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IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Annual Meeting (LEOS)

Optical bistability and X-shaped hysteresis in laser diode amplifiers

N. F. Mitchell, James O’Gorman, John Hegarty, John C. Connolly

Published Dec 30, 2002• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Laser diode amplifiers exhibit optical bistability when biased just below lasing threshold, and have applications as optical memory elements and optical switches, due to their very low switching energy (fJ) and presence of optical gain. While LDAs operated in transmission have received much attention, the reflection mode of operation has been largely neglected. In this paper we present a detailed experimental and numerical investigation of Fabry Perot LDA (FP-LDA) behavior under light injection when operated in reflection. We observe transitions from anticlockwise to clockwise hysteresis with changing bias level or incident wavelength detuning. Moreover, we also report the first experimental observation of X-shaped (or butterfly hysteresis) in this system. Our results are in very good agreement with calculation.>

DOI
10.1109/leos.1993.379290

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Laser diode amplifiers exhibit optical bistability when biased just below lasing threshold, and have applications as optical memory elements and optical switches, due to their very low switching energy (fJ) and presence of optical gain. While LDAs operated in transmission have received much attention, the reflection mode of operation has been largely neglected. In this paper we present a detailed experimental and numerical investigation of Fabry Perot LDA (FP-LDA) behavior under light injection when operated in reflection. We observe transitions from anticlockwise to clockwise hysteresis with changing bias level or incident wavelength detuning. Moreover, we also report the first experimental observation of X-shaped (or butterfly hysteresis) in this system. Our results are in very good agreement with calculation.>
We present what is to our knowledge the first study of optical bistability in Fabry-Perot laser-diode amplifiers that have asymmetric facet reflectivities. When operated in reflection, the light input-light output characteristics exhibit a transition from counterclockwise to clockwise hysteresis by way of an X-shaped or butterfly hysteresis. This transition can be achieved by a change in either the device bias or the phase detuning of the incident light. Our results are in good agreement with calculation.
Bistable laser amplifiers are attractive for potential application in optical switching because of very low input optical requirement, high extinction ratio and the presence of optical gain. Optical bistability (OB) arises from gain saturation and the associated nonlinear refraction combined with the effect of feedback in the laser cavity. We present the experimental results of bistable characteristics for the case of a 1.55 /spl mu/m symmetric Fabry-Perot (F-P) laser amplifier with uncoated facets. This paper reports a particularly rich variety of behaviour for reflected signals. Three main forms of hysteresis loops are observed on reflection. The hysteresis loop changes from anticlockwise to clockwise hysteresis in the optical input-output characteristic when the drive current or initial phase detuning is changed. The butterfly hysteresis loop is observed experimentally at optical input power as low as 260 /spl mu/W for a drive current equal to 90% of the lasing threshold. The dependence of the optical bistability on drive current, initial phase detuning and injected optical power has been investigated. In the bistable light output-initial phase detuning characteristic, the optimum frequency is shifted downward with an increase in the injected power or the drive current. All measurements are in good agreement with an analytical model.
We present experimental measurements of bistable characteristics for the case of a 1.55-/spl mu/m symmetric Fabry-Perot laser amplifier with a particularly rich variety of behavior for reflected signals. Three main forms of hysteresis loops are observed on reflection. The hysteresis loop changes from anticlockwise to clockwise hysteresis in the optical output-input characteristic when the drive current or initial phase detuning is changed. A "butterfly" hysteresis loop is observed experimentally at an optical input power as low as 300 /spl mu/W for a drive current equal to 94% of the lasing threshold. The dependence of the reflective optical bistability on drive current, initial phase detuning, and injected optical pewter has been investigated for the first time in an uncoated 1.55-/spl mu/m amplifier. Measurements of the device voltage shifts on switching reveal hysteresis loops which match those in the corresponding optical powers and which indicate the amount of gain saturation and nonlinear refraction responsible for bistability. An analytical model is used to describe the observed reflective bistability and to give insight into the detailed physical mechanisms responsible.
In this paper, we observe experimentally the optical bistability induced by the side-mode injection power and wavelength detuning in a single mode Fabry—Pérot laser diode (SMFP-LD). Results show that the bistability characteristics of the dominant and injected modes are strongly dependent on the injected input optical power and wavelength detuning in an SMFP-LD. We observe three types of hysteresis loops: counterclockwise, clockwise, and butterfly hysteresis with various loop widths. In the case of a bistability loop caused by injection power, the transition from counterclockwise to clockwise in the hysteresis direction with the wavelength detuning from 0.028 nm to 0.112 nm is observed in a way of butterfly hysteresis for the dominant mode by increasing the wavelength detuning. The width of hysteresis loop, induced by wavelength detuning is also changed while the injection power is enhanced from −7 dBm to −5 dBm.
Summary form only given. We report results of an experiment in which the output of a single-mode diode laser is injected into a diode laser amplifier operated close to its lasing threshold. The injected light is periodically modulated at frequencies very slow compared with the relevant relaxation frequencies within the amplifier. In contrast to most experiments, we operate the amplifier in a reflection mode instead of the transmission mode. Under the influence of the periodic modulation, the amplifier output exhibits several novel types of hysteresis and associated bistable behavior.
We report, the first time to our knowledge, an observation of optical bistability in a Vertical-Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (VCSOA) operated in reflection mode. Counterclockwise hysteresis loops are obtained over a range of initial phase detuning and bias currents. One hysteresis loop is observed experimentally with an input power as low as 2 ìW when the device is biased at 98% of its lasing threshold. We also numerically simulate the optical bistability and obtain good agreement with our experimental observations. Bistable VCSOAs significantly advances the prospect of dense 2-D array of low switching-intensity all-optical logic and memory elements.