Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Item
    Semiconductor laser linewidth theory revisited
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Wenzel, Hans; Kantner, Markus; Radziunas, Mindaugas; Bandelow, Uwe
    More and more applications require semiconductor lasers distinguished not only by large modulation bandwidths or high output powers, but also by small spectral linewidths. The theoretical understanding of the root causes limiting the linewidth is therefore of great practical relevance. In this paper, we derive a general expression for the calculation of the spectral linewidth step by step in a self-contained manner. We build on the linewidth theory developed in the 1980s and 1990s but look from a modern perspective, in the sense that we choose as our starting points the time-dependent coupled-wave equations for the forward and backward propagating fields and an expansion of the fields in terms of the stationary longitudinal modes of the open cavity. As a result, we obtain rather general expressions for the longitudinal excess factor of spontaneous emission (K-factor) and the effective α-factor including the effects of nonlinear gain (gain compression) and refractive index (Kerr effect), gain dispersion, and longitudinal spatial hole burning in multi-section cavity structures. The effect of linewidth narrowing due to feedback from an external cavity often described by the so-called chirp reduction factor is also automatically included. We propose a new analytical formula for the dependence of the spontaneous emission on the carrier density avoiding the use of the population inversion factor. The presented theoretical framework is applied to a numerical study of a two-section distributed Bragg reflector laser.
  • Item
    16.3 w peak‐power pulsed all‐diode laser based multi‐wavelength master‐oscillator power‐amplifier system at 964 nm
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Vu, Thi Nghiem; Tien, Tran Quoc; Sumpf, Bernd; Klehr, Andreas; Fricke, Jörg; Wenzel, Hans; Tränkle, Günther
    An all-diode laser-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) configuration for the generation of ns-pulses with high peak power, stable wavelength and small spectral line width is presented. The MOPA emits alternating at two wavelengths in the spectral range between 964 nm and 968 nm, suitable for the detection of water vapor by absorption spectroscopy. The monolithic master oscillator (MO) consists of two slightly detuned distributed feedback laser branches, whose emission is combined in a Y-coupler. The two emission wavelengths can be adjusted by varying the current or temperature to an absorption line and to a non-absorbing region. The power amplifier (PA) consists of a ridge-waveguide (RW) section and a tapered section, monolithically integrated within one chip. The RW section of the PA acts as an optical gate and converts the continuous wave input beam emitted by the MO into a sequence of short optical pulses, which are subsequently amplified by the tapered section to boost the output power. For a pulse width of 8 ns, a peak power of 16.3 W and a side mode suppression ratio of more than 37 dB are achieved at a repetition rate of 25 kHz. The measured spectral width of 10 pm, i.e., 0.1 cm−1, is limited by the resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer. The generated pulses emitting alternating at two wavelengths can be utilized in a differential absorption light detection and ranging system.