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Optical Amplifiers and Their Applications

A New Time-Dependant Numerical Model of a Semiconductor Laser Amplifier with Absorbing Regions

Robert Noyes, Jayanta Sarma, I. Middlemast

Published Jan 1, 1992• 0 citations

Abstract

Two segment devices for optical bistability have been studied extensively but in almost all these cases the switching process is essentially absorption dominated e.g. [1]. In contrast, a particularly interesting new mode of operation from the same device results if a coherent optical signal, placed fairly near to a Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonance of the device, is injected at the initially un-pumped end of the structure. As the intensity of the input signal is increased the unpumped region changes towards transparency thus causing the F-P resonance to ‘sharpen up’ and move with respect to the input signal wavelength. Under suitable conditions highly non-linear amplification of the signal (switching) occurs which can produce at the output a very much altered signal shape than at the input. In this mode of operation the device has potential application as signal pulse re-generators in coherent optical communication systems.

DOI: 10.1364/oaa.1992.wd3

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Two segment devices for optical bistability have been studied extensively but in almost all these cases the switching process is essentially absorption dominated e.g. [1]. In contrast, a particularly interesting new mode of operation from the same device results if a coherent optical signal, placed fairly near to a Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonance of the device, is injected at the initially un-pumped end of the structure. As the intensity of the input signal is increased the unpumped region changes towards transparency thus causing the F-P resonance to ‘sharpen up’ and move with respect to the input signal wavelength. Under suitable conditions highly non-linear amplification of the signal (switching) occurs which can produce at the output a very much altered signal shape than at the input. In this mode of operation the device has potential application as signal pulse re-generators in coherent optical communication systems.

Optical bistable elements may be attractive in all-optical regenerators as an alternative to electronic regenerators1 provided they are able to handle signals with bit rates in the Gbit/s range. The bistable Fabry-Perot (F.P.) laser amplifier has many desirable properties, e.g., optical gain, room temperature operation,, and low switching energy (fJ).2 Bistability at up to 250 Mbit/s has been predicted for antireflection coated laser amplifiers.1 Here we report measurements of switching times of ~1 ns for a 1.3-μm F.P. laser amplifier, which are verified numerically. For antireflection coated amplifiers, switching times of 230-250 ps, suggesting transmission rates of up to ~2 Gbit/s, are predicted.

We demonstrate optically bistable (light switching light) operation in a room-temperature InGaAsP Fabry-Perot amplifier. The amplifier is an InGaAsP/InP laser structure biased at ~95% of its lasing threshold. It is switched with <3 μW of optical power provided by the mechanically chopped output of a quasi-single-mode InGaAsP/InP laser. The experimental apparatus is depicted in Fig, 1. A change in the refractive Index in the amplifier of only 5 × 10−4 is sufficient to cause switching. Input and output pulses from the nonlinear amplifier are shown in Fig. 2 when the source frequency is initially detuned by 14 GHz from the closest Fabry-Perot mode of the amplifier. Smaller switching powers are required at lesser detunings. The physical mechanism of the intensity-dependent change of the refractive index is thought to be the change in carrier density resulting from stimulated recombination of free carriers.

Dispersive optical bistability in a Fabry-Perot, a distributed feedback (DFB), or a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), semiconductor laser amplifier has recently attracted much attention, because of its potential in the operation of highly functional optical devices. While the steady-state operation of bistable diode laser amplifiers are well understood, studies of the dynamic properties have been limited to switching time, critical slowing down and output spiking measurements[1-3]. Little attention has been paid to the dynamic frequency chirp which is associated with the turn-on spike at the onset of light injection. Such frequency chirp exists because in dispersive bistability the Fabry-Perot resonance (or the DBR/DFB transmission peak) sweeps through the injected wavelength as a result of alight induced refractive index change. In this paper, we report on a theoretical analysis and the first experimental observation of this dynamic chirp in a Fabry-Perot type nonlinear semiconductor laser amplifier. It is found that the magnitude of the chirp depends on the input power, which in turn is related to critical slowing down.