Injection locking of a KrF laser using a frequency-doubledargon-ion laser pulse

The injection locking of a KrF unstable resonator module has been studied experimentally using a dye-laser-amplified, frequency-doubled seed pulse generated from the 496.5-nm output of an etalon-narrowed argon-ion laser. Partial injection locking was observed starting at input powers of 0.1 W, with greater than 90% injection locking being achieved at input powers of over 1 kW. The output linewidth was experimentally determined to be less than 100 MHz, making possible an ultra-high-brightness KrF laser source     

Influence of amplitude-phase coupling on the injection locking bandwidth of a semiconductor laser

The strong amplitude-phase coupling in a semiconductor laser is well known to induce an enhancement linewidth factor (1 + ?2) It is shown that it also produces an enhancement of the injection locking bandwidth proportional to (1 + ?2)1/2. The connection with the usual locking bandwidth derived from Adler's equation is pointed out by considering the carrier dependence of the injected cavity resonance frequency.     

Small-signal analysis of modulation characteristics in asemiconductor laser subject to strong optical injection

Injection locking of a semiconductor laser can induce major changes in the modulation characteristics of the laser. A small-signal analysis using the lumped element model shows that both the frequency and damping of the characteristic resonances of the coupled complex field and free carriers (gain medium) are modified. The detuning between the injected field and the free-running oscillating field, the amplitude of the injection field relative to the free-running field, the linewidth enhancement factor, the cavity photon and spontaneous carrier decay rates, and the field enhancement of the decay rate are all key parameters in determining the changes to the modulation characteristics. For a broad range of parameters, there is simultaneous enhancement of the modulation bandwidth and stable, locked operation. The enhancement is a cavity phenomena and does not occur in a traveling wave amplifier. It requires that the frequency of the locking field be detuned from the injection-modified frequency of the cavity resonance. This causes a resonant enhancement of the modulation sideband associated with the preferred frequency of the optical cavity. Bandwidth enhancements beyond the free-running laser limit are possible over a range of injection levels and injection frequency detunings     

基于片上微腔自反馈注入锁定的窄线宽激光器

对半导体激光器外腔自反馈注入锁定进行了理论分析,研究了片上微腔的自反馈注入锁定对于分布反馈(DFB)激光器输出线宽的影响,分析了决定锁定带宽及线宽压缩系数的关键参数。基于Q值为2.4×10⁶的片上Si₃N₄微腔的后向瑞利散射实现了DFB激光器的自反馈注入锁定,将其输出线宽由自由运转时的556.71 kHz压窄到了92.28 kHz,锁定带宽达到425 MHz。研究结果有助于理解半导体激光器自反馈注入锁定机理,并为实现窄线宽激光器提供了新的结构更简单、集成化潜力更高的方案。     

Injection locking characteristics of an AlGaAs semiconductor laser

Injection locking of an AlGaAs double-heterostructure laser was studied with respect to locking frequency width and locking gain. The relation of the locking bandwidth versus the ratio of locked laser to injected power was consistent with the analysis on injection locking phenomena by Adler. Measured maximum locking bandwidth was 3 GHz, when locking gain was 23 dB. The 40 dB maximum gain was observed with the 500 MHz locking bandwidth. By measuring the beat notes between two temperature-stabilized free running AlGaAs lasers, the linewidth was estimated as 10 MHz.     

Static and dynamic properties of injection-locked semiconductorlasers

The static and dynamic properties of injection-locked semiconductor lasers considering the influence of nonlinear gain are presented systematically. Depending on locking conditions, the modulation bandwidth of a semiconductor laser may be increased or decreased by external light injection. However, the relaxation resonance frequency and the damping rate as defined for a solitary Fabry-Perot (FP) laser are always enhanced by injection locking. That is, contrary to that in a solitary FP laser, the modulation bandwidth in an injection-locked laser is not determined solely by the relaxation resonance frequency, because an injection-locked laser is a third-order system. Therefore, a new definition of the modulation bandwidth is presented for such a laser. The performances of injection-locked distributed feedback (DFB) lasers are also discussed. The theory is in good agreement with the experiments     

Propagation equation based theory of intermodal injection lockingin semiconductor lasers

Intermodal injection locking is analyzed theoretically through the use of propagation equations inside the amplifying semiconductor medium and the boundary conditions on the laser facets. In particular, the stability analysis is performed by considering the oscillation threshold of sideband waves generated inside the laser via intracavity nearly degenerate four-wave mixing processes. This study of injection locking is performed by taking into account the dispersion relationship of both the optical gain and linewidth enhancement factor. As a consequence, in intermodal injection locking, the injected-locked power is shown to be, in certain cases, lower than that of the free-running laser, and the frequency zones of stable injection locking broader than those obtained in the intramodal injection-locking case usually considered     

注入锁定光纤环形腔激光器实验研究

利用注入锁定技术,将中心频率稳定、窄线宽的DFBLD作为主激光器,将光纤环形腔激光器作为从激光器。在实现注入锁定后,利用光纤环形腔谐振特性,在效压窄了注入光线宽。得到了中心频率稳定,较之DFBLD线宽更窄的输出激光,目前线宽已被压窄到70kHz。     

Diode lasers locked to noisy injection

We have analyzed the behavior of a diode laser with low-amplitude optical injection. The noisy injection field has phase fluctuations only, with a linewidth larger than both the free-running slave laser linewidth and the locking range. Simulations show that the laser output spectrum can be much narrower than the injection spectrum and may have a dip at the free-running laser frequency. A model describing these features is based on linear superposition of the stationary responses to monochromatic injection. The mechanism of line narrowing is that the response to injection outside the locking range lies mainly inside     

Improvement of linewidth enhancement factor in 1.55-μmmultiple-quantum-well laser diodes

The improvement of the linewidth enhancement factor in complex-coupled laser diode (CC-LD), or loss-coupled, was confirmed by measuring the spontaneous emission spectra below threshold from the sidewall of laser diodes. In addition, the serial resistance of the device was measured. The linewidth enhancement factor is improved by the presence of a light absorbing InGaAs grating for loss coupled distributed-feedback (DFB) laser diode (LD). We report the comparison of the linewidth enhancement factors of Fabry-Perot (FP) LD, conventional DFB-LD, and loss coupled DFB-LDs     

光注入MQW半导体激光器分岔及其动力学稳定性

研究外部光注入多量子阱激光器四维系统动力学行为及其分岔,数值模拟了外部光注入光强度、频差以及激光器线宽增强参数、驱动电流对分岔的影响,分别得到激光由分岔、周期、多周期进入混沌的过程以及激光混沌频谱.给出了多量子阱激光器静态锁模最大频域公式,导出了注入多量子阱激光器四维系统的一次近似下扰动方程和本征值方程及解,给出了该系统的Hopf分岔条件,理论和数值分析了系统的动力学稳定性行为,并进一步模拟得出激光单周期、双周期、六周期时振荡频率等值.     

Intensity dependence of the linewidth enhancement factor and itsimplications for semiconductor lasers

The linewidth enhancement factor is shown to become intensity dependent when the intraband relaxation effects responsible for nonlinear gain and index changes are incorporated in the theory of semiconductor lasers. The intensity dependence of the linewidth enhancement factor influences many laser characteristics such as the frequency chirp, the modulation response, the injection-locking range, and the phase noise. In particular, it leads to a power-independent contribution to the laser linewidth. Furthermore, for semiconductor lasers detuned to operate away from the gain peak, the nonlinear index changes can even lead to a rebroadening of the laser linewidth at high-output powers     

Effects of nonlinear gain on mode-hopping in semiconductor laserdiodes

A systematic and comprehensive analysis of longitudinal mode-hopping, due to nonlinear gain, and its influence on the design criteria of transverse-mode-controlled semiconductor laser diodes are presented. An existing nonlinear model, which was derived using a density matrix formalism, has been extended in this paper to generate the nonlinear gain coefficient matrix. Properties of the nonlinear gain coefficient matrix, which describes the interaction among cavity modes, are discussed. Using the new nonlinear gain in the steady-state multimode rate equations, conventional Fabry-Perot (FP) and short cavity Fabry-Perot (SFP) semiconductor laser diodes have been numerically simulated. Design issues such as cavity length, cavity volume, facet reflectivity, spontaneous emission factor, mode wavelength, intraband relaxation time, linewidth enhancement factor, and laser structure are also discussed. It is shown that increasing the injection current causes the lasing mode to jump to longer wavelengths. Furthermore, increasing the spontaneous emission factor reduces the dynamic range of laser operation without mode-hopping, and vice versa for short cavity. It has been also shown that the carrier density in the active region shifts to higher values (i.e., experiences a kink) at the onset of mode-hopping. Finally, the total modal gain (linear and nonlinear) competes as the injection current increases     

Noise analysis of injection-locked semiconductor injection lasers

The noise of injection-locked semiconductor lasers is analyzed by rate equations including the spontaneous emission noise. The side mode suppression and the relative intensity noise (RIN) of the locked laser (slave laser) are given for different wavelengths detuning between the master and slave laser and for different linewidth enhancement factors α. For large α, locking is difficult to achieve, whereas extremely low noise may be obtained for injection-locked lasers with a low linewidth enhancement factor.     

FM noise suppression and linewidth reduction in an injection-locked semiconductor laser

An expression is derived for the FM noise spectrum of an injection-locked semiconductor laser. For increasing injection level the FM noise spectrum and the lineshape change gradually from those of the slave laser to those of the master laser. The ultimate linewidth reduction is obtained if the locking bandwidth is large enough to accommodate the frequency fluctuations and if the detuning is controlled carefully.     

High-performance phase locking of wide linewidth semiconductorlasers by combined use of optical injection locking and opticalphase-lock loop

The requirement for narrow linewidth lasers or short-loop propagation delay makes the realization of optical phase-lock loops using semiconductor lasers difficult. Although optical injection locking can provide low phase error variance for wide linewidth lasers, the locking range is restricted by stability considerations. Theoretical and experimental results for a system which combines both techniques so as to overcome these limitations, the optical injection phase-lock loop (OIPLL), are reported. Phase error variance values as low as 0.006 rad ² (500 MHz bandwidth) and locking ranges exceeding 26 GHz were achieved in homodyne OIPLL systems using DFB lasers of summed linewidth 36 MHz, loop propagation delay of 15 ns and injection ratio less than -30 dB. Phase error variance values as low as 0.003 rad² in a bandwidth of 100 MHz, a mean time to cycle slip of 3×10¹⁰ s and SSB noise density of -94 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset were obtained for the same lasers in an heterodyne OIPLL configuration with loop propagation delay of 20 ns and injection ratio of -30 dB     

Comparison of linewidth enhancement factor between p-doped and undoped quantum-dot lasers

The optical linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) of a p-doped quantum-dot (QD) laser is measured below threshold and compared with a theoretical calculation. The optical gain, refractive index, and LEF are well matched with our theoretical model when the thermal effect is isolated by an additional pulse current measurement of the LEF. We also theoretically calculate the LEF of an undoped QD Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot (FP) laser assuming that the structure of the undoped FP QD laser is the same as that of the p-doped QD FP laser except the p-type doping. The changes in modal gain and refractive index due to the respective QD ground and excited states are calculated. Based on the theoretical results, we show that the LEF of the p-doped QD laser is smaller than that of the undoped QD laser due to the reduced transparency carrier density.     

外注入锁定对FP激光器强度噪声的抑制

采用较强的外注入光锁定FP激光器,获得了理想的强度噪声抑制效果. 在自由运转的FP激光器的弛豫振荡峰处,最大噪声抑制强度可达9dB. 研究了注入光功率和频率失谐对于强度噪声抑制效果的影响. 此外,通过实验研究了理想噪声抑制范围与激光器稳定锁定范围之间的关系：它们都随着注入光功率的增加而增大;但在相同的注入光功率下,稳定锁定范围允许更大的频率失谐.     

外注入锁定对FP激光器强度噪声的抑制

采用较强的外注入光锁定FP激光器,获得了理想的强度噪声抑制效果.在自由运转的FP激光器的弛豫振荡峰处,最大噪声抑制强度可达9dB.研究了注入光功率和频率失谐对于强度噪声抑制效果的影响.此外,通过实验研究了理想噪声抑制范围与激光器稳定锁定范围之间的关系:它们都随着注入光功率的增加而增大;但在相同的注入光功率下,稳定锁定范围允许更大的频率失谐.     

用注入锁模法改善DFB激光器的频率响应

验证了通过注入锁模方法,分布反馈(DFB)半导体激光器的频率响应可以得到明显的改善.实验中通过一个环形器,将主激光器的输出光注入到从激光器.测量了从激光器在有注入光和没有注入光时的光谱和频率响应.发现在不同的注入光强度和波长下,激光器的调制带宽和弛豫振荡峰频率会发生变化.通过适当选择注入光的强度和波长,频率响应可以得到改善.激光器频率响应的改善可以用两个模式的拍频来解释,一个模式是从激光器的主模,另一个是主激光器的模式,该模式与从激光器的边带重合.该理论与实验结果符合得很好.