Effect of optical injection on the optical properties of a (GaAl)As semiconductor laser: Optical bistability and four wave mixing

McLnerney, Heffernan

Giovanni Bongiovanni, Andrea Mura, Jean Louis Staehli

Haruto Nakajima, Robert Frey

Intracavity nearly degenerate four-wave mixing in amplifying media has been demonstrated to be a powerful technique to get very high conjugated reflectivities. A physical interpretation of this process is given in terms of interactions among pump (ω), probe (\omega- \delta\omega), or conjugated (\omega + \delta\omega) waves with optically induced refractive index modulations or gratings. Mixing experiments performed at the milliwatt level inside a (GaAl)As semiconductor laser operating above or below threshold have demonstrated very high conjugated reflectivities (a factor of 103-104) together with a 10 percent energy conversion efficiency. The appearance of additional peaks related to the ac Stark effect and observation of bistability on probe and conjugated beams also make this mixing process interesting for the study of instabilities occurring in lasers.

Ian H. White

Yanhua Hong, Jianming Tang, K. Alan Shore

Optical phase conjugation through nearly degenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) in semiconductor lasers has attracted considerable attention in recent years since being first demonstrated by Nakajima and Frey[ 1 ]. Such interest arises due to the very high conjugate reflectivity of order 30-40dB which can be achieved owing to the amplifying effect of the semiconductor gain medium and cavity enhancement of mixing process. However, most previous experimental and theoretical work has placed emphasis on the weak signal case, where the injection signal acts only as a small perturbation of free-running laser diode. It is only very recently that a theoretical analysis of NDFWM in a semiconductor laser subject to strong probe injection power has been presented[2].

Yanhua Hong, K. Alan Shore, N. Brooks +1 more

Summary form only given. Optical phase conjugation through nearly degenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) in semiconductor lasers has attracted considerable attention since being first demonstrated by Nakajima and Frey (1985). Such interest arises due to the very high conjugate reflectivity of order 30-40 dB which can be achieved owing to the amplifying effect of the semiconductor gain medium and cavity enhancement of the mixing process. The paper is focused on an experimental study of NDFWM in a two-section single cavity Fabry-Perot (TSSC FP) laser diode for different probe injection powers. We present results on the conjugate reflectivity dependence of the frequency detuning subject to different injection power. It is shown that the conjugate reflectivity is dependent on optical probe injection into either section of a TSSC FP laser diode, injection power and bias current condition.