IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO.

4, APRIL 1988

625

Modeling of the Frequency Modulation Response of Semiconductor Diode Lasers

LARS HAFSKJER
AND

AASMUND SV SUDBB

Abstract-The modulation response of GaAlAs semiconductor diode lasers has been studied theoretically, with emphasis on wavelength modulation or frequency chirp. The laser model employed is a nonlinear rate equation model that incorporates the wave equation for the lateral waveguide modes of the laser. Lateral diffusion of carriers in the active layer of the laser is taken into account via a one-dimensional diffusion equation. We have performed a small-signal analysis of the model to obtain the modulation response. The calculated amplitude and phase of the wavelength modulation relative to the power modulation are in good agreement with experiments. We have found that carrier diffusion has only a moderate influence on the modulation response.

I. INTRODUCTION ODULATION of the output power of semiconductor diode lasers via direct modulation of the laser current is attractive due to its simplicity. However, the power modulation is inherently accompanied by wavelength modulation, also called frequency chirp. The chirp may result in dispersion penalties in optical communication systems, and is often undesirable. Qualitatively, the behavior is well understood. The wavelength modulation occurs because modulation of the laser current induces modulation of the refractive index of the laser medium. The index modulation is caused either by temperature modulation or carrier density modulation. The temperature modulation effect successfully explains the chirp for modulation frequencies below the order of 10 MHz [ l ] and is not considered in our work. The work reported here concerns modulation frequencies higher than the ones where temperature modulation occurs. The carrier density modulation effect dominates above 10 MHz and is frequently treated by the use of simple rate equation models. However, there are certain details of the wavelength modulation response which are hard to explain by these models. One such feature is a wavelength modulation that in some lasers [2], [3] is observed to be in phase with the power modulation and independent of modulation frequency for frequencies up to several hundred MHz. A possible explanation was suggested in [4]by introducing a lateral two-section laser model with

a spatially inhomogeneous linewidth enhancement factor. In [5], a different mechanism was proposed, by taking the wavefront curvature of the laser mode into account. Furthermore, the experimentally observed relaxation oscillation resonance is less sharply peaked than typically predicted by models. Carrier diffusion was proposed in [6] to account for the damping of the relaxation oscillations. Gain saturation has also been proposed [7] as a damping mechanism. A useful review and comparison of various laser models has been given by Buus [8]. In the present paper, we describe a laser diode model that in addition to the ideas discussed in [5], incorporates the effects discussed in [4]. The model predicts the inphase wavelength modulation at low modulation frequencies. This result is obtained even if the linewidth enhancement factor does not depend on the lateral position. We have also used our model to clarify the effects of carrier diffusion on the modulation response of diode lasers.
11. THEORY

Our analysis is intended to apply to a commercially available channeled substrate planar (CSP) GaAlAs laser (Hitachi HLP 1400) [9], [ 101. Since we have not considered temperature-induced wavelength modulation, our analysis is only valid for modulation frequencies exceeding a few megahertz. A simplified diagram of the laser is shown in Fig. 1 . We employ the effective index approximation [ 111. The mathematical model is one dimensional only, i.e., possible variations of the carrier density and the optical field in the longitudinal direction will not be taken into account. Accordingly, we assume that the active layer of the laser is a longitudinally homogeneous waveguide, with a central region with effective refractive index slightly higher than in the rest of the layer.
A . General and Steady-State Equations Our model consists of 1) a nonlinear diffusion equation for the lateral distribution of camer density in the active layer of the laser 2) a rate equation for the total number of photons in the laser 3) a wave equation for the transverse modes of the laser waveguide. The various symbols that appear in the following derivation are defined in Table I. Derivation with respect to lateral direction x and time t will be denoted, respectively,

Manuscript received November 9, 1986; revised September 26, 1987. L. Hafskjzr is with the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration Research Department, N-2007 Kjeller, Norway. A. Sudbo is with the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration Research Department, N-2007 Kjeller, Norway and the Institute of Physics, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo 3, Norway. IEEE Log Number 8718957.

0018-9197/88/0400-0625$01 O 1988 IEEE .OO

626

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24. NO. 4, APRIL 1988

stripe contact

\ active layer with waveguide

Fig. 1. Model of CSP diode laser.

TABLE I DEFINITIONSYMBOLS OF In the text, some of the symbols appear with labels. The subscript 0 denotes steady-state values. The subscripts p and q denote, respectively, in-phase and quadrature deviations of quantities relative to the injection current modulation. Single and double primes denote, respectively, real and imaginary parts of complex variables.

Symbol

Meaning Cavity length Upper cladding layer thickness Active layer thickness Waveguide width Current stripe width Injected current Injected current distribution Carrier density distribution Complex field amplitude (normalized) Photon density distribution Total number photons of ( = (Lcl/r)j S ( x ) d x ) Complex effective dielectric function Free space wavelength Free space propagation constant ( = 2?r/h) Complex propagation constant of laser mode Refractive index in the active layer Effective index step at waveguide edge Imaginary part of effective index step Group index Mode confinement factor Gain coefficient Gain nonlinearity parameter Cavity loss Antiguiding factor Transparency carrier density Active layer doping density Diffusion constant Nonradiative recombination time Square recombination constant Spontaneous emission coefficient Electron charge Velocity of light

Value

Unit

Reference

0.83 3.63 0. I percent 0. I percent 4.3 0.15 2.5 x IO- ox 5 x 10 -4.4 x IO-* 0.98 x ioX4 IO2 6 x 8.5
10-l6

1 . 6 x 10-l9 3 x lo8

HAFSKJRR A N D S U D B B : MODELING FM RESPONSE OF DIODE LASERS

627

by a, and a,. Due to symmetry, only positive x values need to be considered. Single and double primes will denote, respectively, real and imaginary parts of complex variables. The diffusion equation for the carrier density N ( x ) in the active layer of thickness d is written a,N(x) = J(x)/ed - N ( x ) 1 / ~ B [ P +

The optical field E ( x ) and the propagation constant 0 satisfy the wave equation which, using the effective index approximation [ l l ] , [14, Appendix 21, may be written a:E(x)

+ k2c(x)E ( x ) = p 2 E ( x )
a,E(o) =
x+m

(10)

subject to the boundary conditions

+ N(x)]}
(1) (2)
(3)
rm

(11)

+ Da,2zqx) - G ( N ( x ) ) s ( ~ )
subject to the boundary conditions a,N(O)
x+m

lim E ( x ) = 0

(12)

and the normalization conditions

lim N ( x ) = 0.

i
JO

I E ( x ) l dx

2
0.

-m

io
m

I E ( x ) l dx = 1

(13)

As shown in Appendix A, an analytic solution of (1) may be obtained for large x. Instead of the boundary condition (3), we actually require N ( x ) to join smoothly with the analytic solution at some finite value x, of x. We use a constant diffusion constant D as a parameter in our model. The nonlinear recombination in our model therefore leads to a diffusion length that depends on the carrier density. Values of the linear decay time T and the binary recombination coefficient B used in the calculations (Table I) are such that the binary recombination term in (1) dominates over the linear term except for large x values. We have used the lateral distribution of injected current density in [12] and [13]. When the cladding layer is highly resistive and of thickness h, the distribution from a current stripe of width Wand length L can be expressed

E ( x )E ( x ) dx

J b ) 4&)/L =
where

(4)

Actually, to take into account the fact that the numerical integration must end at a finite value x = x,, we require a , E ( x , ) / E ( x , ) to be equal to -J(p2 - k2c(oo)) as a boundary condition instead of (12). The complex propagation constant obtained from the wave equation yields the laser wavelength and the mode gain. In particular, the real part 6 of the propagation constant is an integer multiple of a / L where L is the laser length, and the gain term in the photon rate equation (8) is twice the imaginary part p times the group velocity c/n,. The linear laser gain G ( N ) [see (7)] is included in the wave equation via the imaginary part of the camer density-dependent dielectric function E ( x ) . We write the effective dielectric function in the following way:
~ ( x= n(x) )

+ 2rnbN(x)

(15)

jo(.)

= K [ (1

+ E + W )( 1 + E - ( x ) ) ]

(5)
where

K is a normalization constant determined by the condition 2 S F j o ( x )dx = 1 . We assume that J ( x ) is given by (4)(6) also when the injection current I is modulated. The carrier depletion by stimulated recombination is given by the photon gain term G ( N ) discussed below in connection with the wave equation:
G(N) = a(l

n(x) = n and

+ An,

for 1x1

< w/2

n(x) = n elsewhere
g ( x ) = 0,

for 1x1

< w/2

and

+ Y ( N - N,)) ( N - Nt).

(7)

g ( x ) = 2ckAn/(Ing) elsewhere.

(18)

The time dependence of the laser power is given by the rate equation for the total number of photons 3:

lom
I

N(x) [P

+ N ( x ) ] dx.

(8)

The distribution of intensity or photon density in the active layer of the laser is
s(x) = ~ ( x )

The guiding mechanism in CSP lasers is such that the imaginary as well as the real part of the effective index of refraction in the laser vary with lateral position [9]; hence, we have included the term g(x) in (16). Thus, the guiding in the laser is modeled by a complex dielectric function with a step both in the real and in the imaginary parts. We will also need an expression for & / a N at N = N0(x):

I sr/(u).

(9)

628

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 4. APRIL 1988

0, .' 3

'I

where

(21) We have chosen to let E' ( N , x ) depend linearly on N ( x ) , whereas E " ( N , x ) is allowed a nonlinear dependence on N ( x ) by the introduction of a nonlinearity parameter y. Measurements of gain as a function of carrier density [ 151 indicate that the gain does, indeed, depend nonlinearly on carrier density. Furthermore, the linewidth enhancement factor [ 161

G N ( N ) = ~ ( +l 2y(N - N , ) ) .

Fig. 2 . Gain versus carrier density for three different values of the nonlinearity parameter y. Cf. (7).

is then allowed the spatial dependence invoked in [4] to explain the wavelength modulation response. If the nonlinearity parameter y is nonzero, a will vary with N o ( x ) , and hence with position x , and more so the greater I y I is. Fig. 2 shows gain versus carrier density in our model for three different values of y. Note that the effective dielectric function E ( x ) is time dependent through its dependence on N ( x ) . Therefore, the propagation constant p and the shape of the intensity distribution S ( x ) will vary with time. The calculation of S ( x ) and p is based on an adiabatic approximation, i.e., the functional form of S ( x ) and the value of p are at any one time given by the solution of the static wave equation (10) using the instantaneous value of e ( x ) . In most laser diode models [ l ] , [6], a fixed shape is assumed for the intensity distribution, and as discussed below, our calculations indicate that this is a valid approach. B. The Linearized Time-Dependent Equations Now, let the injection current distribution be sinusoidally modulated with angular frequency W. When the modulation is small, the response of the laser may be obtained by linearizing (l), @), and (10) around the steadystate solutions. We may then assume that the physical quantities under consideration are also sinusoidally modulated. In the following, steady-state solutions will be denoted by the subscript 0. The subscripts p and q will denote, respectively, in-phase and quadrature deviations of quantities relative to the injection current modulation. We write (see Table I for definition of symbols)

and quadrature components by a single complex number must be treated with caution. We have chosen to work with the components written explicitly. The linearization of (1) results in the following two differential equations for N,, ( x ) and Nq ( x ) . oa;N,(x) = R,(x)N,(x) u ~ q ( ~ )

+ T,,(x) - I , , j o ( x ) / ( e W
Da:N,(x) = u N p ( x ) + R o ( x ) N , ( x ) where
&(x) = U G N ( N ~ ( X ) ) & ( X )1/7

(29) (30)

+ T,(x)

+ B [ P + 2No(x)]
(31) (32)

Tp,q(x) =

G ( N o ( x ) )S,.,IEo(x)

I~l(W.

G ( N ) is given by (7) and G N ( N )by (21). The boundary conditions for N p ( x ) and Nq ( x ) may be expressed as given by (2) and (3). However, numerical integration must end at a finite x value. In Appendix A, we derive a more convenient boundary condition than (3). The linearization of (8) gives

2c -usp + psq + -#So

nx where

+ vq = 0

(34)

+ I,, cos u t N ( x ) = N o ( x ) + N,,(x) cos u t - N q ( x ) sin u t s = So + sP cos u t - S, sin u t E ( X ) = e O ( x ) + c P ( x ) cos u t - e q ( x ) sin u t /3 = Po + p p cos u t - pq sin u t k = ko + kp cos ut - kq sin u t .
I
=

Io

(23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28)

p, up,

, , Note that ~ ( x ) e p ( x ) , e q ( x ) , p, 0' and 6, are all complex. Hence, the usual representation of a pair of in-phase

and uq all vanish when 6 vanishes. First-order , perturbation theory from quantum mechanics applied to (10) implies that the complex pp,q is given by (see Ap-

HAFSKJER A N D SUDBB: MODELING FM RESPONSE OF DIODE LASERS

629

pendix B)

where & / a N is given by (19) and (20) for N = N o ( x ) . Equation (37) is used to eliminate 0 and ; from (33) and (34). The system of equations (29), (30), (33), and , (34) may then be solved for S and S,, yielding the amplitude and the phase of the laser power modulation directly. Since p is an integer multiple of n / L , p;,, must be zero, and (37) then yields the amplitude and the phase of the wavelength modulation via the quantities k,, and k,. In the derivation of the small-signal equations, we have neglected the perturbations in the field functions E and E that will accompany the modulation. These perturbations will, when taken into account, appear as additional terms in (32) coupling (29) and (30) to the set of differential equations for these perturbations. We have found in our computer simulations, that the effect of the modulation of E and E on the modulation response of the laser is negligible, and they are therefore omitted from our model as presented here. Thus, S ( x ) is the steadystate intensity distribution of light in the laser. 111. NUMERICAL METHODS The steady-state solution of the set of equations (1)(12) is found by iteration. One complete iteration cycle consists of three main steps. 1) Solving the wave equation (10) with E ( X ) given by N ( x ) from the previous iteration cycle (a trial or guess solution forN(x) must be provided in the first cycle). The solution P2 and E ( x ) is found by a shooting method using standard numerical library routines [ 171. The solution is checked to ensure that it is the fundamental laser mode that has been found. 2) Solving the camer density rate equation (1) using the photon distribution S ( x ) that is based on 3 from the previous iteration cycle and E ( x ) from the current cycle (a guess value of 3 must be supplied in the first cycle). 3) Calculating RS, the right-hand side of the photon rate equation (8) using 3 from the previous iteration cycle and N ( x ) from the current cycle. Based on the current and the previous RS values, the current 3 is calculated in the same manner as in Newtons iteration method. The iteration process converges if the sequence of RS values approaches zero and is cut off when RS becomes sufficiently small. The threshold injection current is calculated assuming a linear dependence of the photon number on the injection current above threshold. Then one needs to find the static solution for two levels of the injection current in order to find the threshold current. It typically takes a few minutes time to get this solution on a Norsk Data ND-500 minicomputer.

Now let us turn to the problem of solving the dynamic equations. The differential equations (29) and (30) are readily solved for a given set of the four unknown parameters S,. S,, N p (0), and N , ( 0 ) by using standard library routines [17]. The unknowns must satisfy (33) and (34) in addition to two equations reflecting the right-hand boundary conditions, as explained in Appendix A. Hence, they may be found by standard routines designed for finding real zeros of continuous real functions of several variables. Since N, ( x ) and N , ( x ) depend linearly on S,, , S,, N,(O), and N,(O), and in addition, (33) and (34) are linear, it should suffice to integrate (29) and (30) exactly five times in order to arrive at the final solution. The routine used for the purpose works iteratively, and due to truncation errors, the number of iterations may sometimes be somewhat larger. The calculation above is done with one particular angular frequency w and usually takes a few seconds on our computer. To obtain the modulation response, the calculation must be done for some 20-50 values of U , and takes a few minutes.
AND DISCUSSION IV. RESULTS

In Figs. 3 and 4, we present results of the calculations based on the parameter values given in Table I. In conversion of photon density to power output, we have assumed that all power lost from the laser via the term K S emerges as output power, half of it from each facet. In a real laser, less power emerges. The results of the calculations presented here were obtained with 3 = 0 and /, with an injection current that leads to 15 mW output power per facet. For this output power, the results of our calculations of the modulation response were, in general, not The affected by increase of p, to values as high as steady-state carrier density distribution is depicted in Fig. 3(a) together with the injection current distribution. The figure shows the broadening of the carrier distribution due to the lateral diffusion of carriers. The photon distribution and the corresponding optical field functions are shown in Fig. 3(b). As can be seen, most photons are confined by index guiding within the high-index region reaching 3 pm from the center. Fig. 3(c) displays the carrier density modulation for two different frequencies, 0.1 MHz representing the low-frequency region, and 2.6 GHz being the resonance frequency of the relaxation oscillations. The low-frequency curve is negative close to the origin since an increased rate of carrier injection will cause an even greater increase of stimulated recombination, thus leading to a net decrease of the carrier density. As expected, the magnitude of the carrier modulation is substantially larger at the resonance frequency than at low frequencies. Fig. 4(a) and 4(b) give, respectively, the power (intensity) modulation response and the wavelength modulation response. Actually, several of our figures depict the modulation of optical frequency, not wavelength. However, in the text, we have tried to be consistent in using the phrase wavelength modulation instead of frequency modulation to avoid confusion of optical frequency

630

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 4, APRIL 1988

3
5

i --.
\

', \\

'\
'\

- 9 -

bo

i5

m --/

words, the optical frequency of the laser light is at its maximum when the injection current is at its minimum "s and vice versa. As mentioned before, this phase relation.e$ ship has been observed for several GaAlAs laser types '..\ -. --_-.-_? : [2], [3]. Such a relative phase cannot be explained by the -_ - x : gain saturation mechanism invoked for InGaAsP lasers b [7], [18]. Fig. 4(c) depicts the ratio between the wavelength modulation and the power modulation, referred to (b) as chirp-to-power ratio (CPR) [18], [19]. At low modu-8k lation frequencies, the ratio is on the order of 100 -8; MHz/mW and the phase is 180". At high modulation fres quencies, the ratio is proportional to the frequency and '01 E the phase is 90", as also predicted by the simplest rate equation model. Figs. 4-7 show the effect on the modu(c) lation response of variation in a number of laser parameters. With the help of the figures, the importance of several proposed mechanisms underlying wavelength modulation may be clarified. In the following, we will ---_____________.______ discuss each of these mechanisms separately.
(a) - ? i

- 3

- 0

;
0L.CanC.

6
S.nC.P

form

I*ml

4 0

i/
with 'modulation frequency. we note that the calculation predicts a finite wavelength modulation response independent of modulation frequency at low frequencies. Furthermore, we notice that the wavelength modulation and the injection current modulation are in phase up to a modulation frequency exceeding 100 MHz. In other
6

A . Lateral Guiding The real and imaginary parts of the step in the dielectric function (15) and (16) depend on the detailed laser design, and may not be independently adjusted. In a CSP laser, the real and imaginary parts of the step are of the same order of magnitude [9], and Fig. 4 is calculated with A n f/ n = A n f f n = / We have investigated how this step influences the low-frequency wavelength modulation. The results are shown in Fig. 5 . Fig. 5(a) shows the CPR as a function of the real part of the step, and the various curves correspond to different values of the imaginary part. Fig. 5(b) shows the corresponding values of the threshold current. Fig. 5 covers the range from gain guiding (both steps equal to zero or nearly so) to index guiding. For instance, the values A n ' / n = A n f r / n = used to obtain the results in Fig. 4 represent a clear index-guiding situation. The positive values of the CPR in Fig. 5(a) correspond to the wavelength, power, and current modulations being in phase. The negative values obtained in the gain-guiding situation correspond to outof-phase modulation. The results show that in our model of index-guided lasers, we must take into account not only the real part of a step in the refractive index, but also the step in the gaidabsorption (imaginary part) present in CSP lasers [ 101. Otherwise, we will obtain a value of the CPR which is more than one order of magnitude less, and hence not in accordance with experiments. The increase in wavelength modulation with an increasing value of the imaginary part of the step is due to the increased wavefront curvature due to such a step, as discussed in Appendix B. From Fig. 5 , we draw the general conclusion that both the amplitude and phase of the wavelength modulation depend strongly on the waveguiding situation.

7 9

B. Spatially Inhomogeneous Linewidth Enhancement Factor According to (7), we have allowed the gain in our model a nonlinear dependence on the carrier density. As discussed above, this allows for a spatial dependence of the linewidth enhancement factor a [see (22)], suggested in

HAFSKJRR A N D S U D B B : MODELING FM RESPONSE OF DIODE LASERS

0

63 1

- 0
\

\ Q

I rI n o -

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

4.0

hn'/n

(~o*I

ModuCatcon frequency ( M t I I

Fig. 5 . (a) Low-frequency CPR and (b) threshold current as functions of the real part ( A n ' l n ) of the step in the refractive index. The various curves correspond to different values of the imaginary part ( A n " / n ) of the step. The labels should be multiplied with IO-'.

Fig. 7. (a) Frequency modulation (chirp) with (b) phase advance under index-guiding conditions ( A n ' / n = A n " / n = I O - ? ) . The various curves correspond to different values of the diffusion coefficient measured in units of IO-' m'/s.

-I
2

5:
-0.2

/II
/
-0.1

0.1 1 IO*

0.2

0.3

o.+

0.5

*'.I

Fig. 6. (a) Low-frequency CPR, (b) threshold current, and (c) resonance frequency as a function of the gain nonlinearity parameter y in (7). The solid lines correspond to index guiding ( A n ' / n = A n " / n = lo-'), the dashed lines to gain guiding ( A n ' / n = A n " / n =

[4] to give rise to wavelength modulation. The effect is investigated by calculating the modulation response for different values of the nonlinearity parameter y, as we have done for both a gain-guided ( A n r / n = A n r r/ n = lop4) and an index-guided laser ( A n r / n = A n r r / n = [The reasons for performing the calculations on a gain-guided laser with a weak, but finite waveguiding present was that the numerical calculations were then considerably easier to carry out. Be aware, however, that the

phase of the low-modulation-frequency CPR depends sensitively on the waveguide properties, as seen in Fig. 5(a).] The results are shown in Fig. 6 . Fig. 6(a) shows the low-modulation-frequency CPR, Fig. 6(b) the threshold current, and Fig. 6(c) the relaxation oscillation resonance frequency as a function of the nonlinearity parameter y. Fig. 6 shows that the modulation response indeed depends on the nonlinearity parameter y and the accompanying spatial variation of the linewidth enhancement factor a. Despite repeated attempts with various laser structures and a range of laser parameters, we were, however, unable to reproduce in our model calculations a modulation response similar to the one reported in [20] to be observed in experiments on a CSP laser. We note that the response reported in [20] is different from the one observed in our laboratory [3] and in [2]. We also want to make it clear that the results shown in Figs. 3-5 were all obtained with y = 0. Our calculations indicate that waveguiding effects have a greater influence on wavelength modulation than a spatially inhomogeneous linewidth enhancement factor. The gain in the center of the laser above threshold is approximately clamped at the threshold value determined by the loss term K . As evident from Fig. 2, to reach a certain positive gain, the carrier density and hence the injection current have to be increased when the parameter y is decreased. This effect explains why the threshold current increases with decreasing y, as seen in Fig. 6(b). Furthermore, the slope of the gain coefficient G as a function of carrier density at threshold increases with increasing y. Analysis of the simplest rate equation model of diode lasers indicates that the relaxation oscillation frequency increases when the slope of the gain coefficient G increases, and hence the relaxation oscillation frequency

632

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 4 . APRIL 1988

ture of the laser and the lateral diffusion of carriers. The model includes a complex refractive index with steps both in the real and the imaginary part. The magnitude of the steps is a measure of the strength of the guiding, and has a strong influence on the frequency modulation response. The model leads to a finite, frequency-independent inphase wavelength modulation at low modulation frequencies, in agreement with experiments. A superlinear dependence of the gain on the carrier density tends to reduce the wavelength modulation, while a sublinear dependence tends to increase the modulation. We have found that lateral diffusion of carriers tends to reduce the relaxation oscillation peak and the wavelength modulation at low modulation frequencies. However, the effects due to diffusion are rather small. APPENDIX A ANALYTIC SOLUTION NONLINEAR OF DIFFUSION EQUATION REGIONS IN WITHOUT SOURCES In the diffusion equation ( l ) , both the injected current J ( x ) and the optical field S ( x ) are negligible far from the center of an index-guided laser. In the steady state, the diffusion equation (1) then takes the general form y" = u l y + u2y 2 + a3y3 where y ( x ) is the carrier density, u l , u 2 , and u3 are constants, a l > 0, and where we have included for generality the term u 3 y 3that is absent in (1). Integrating ( A l ) once, we obtain
(y')
2

Modulatcon frequency

(MHzl

Fig. 8. (a) Frequency modulation (chirp) with (b) phase advance under gain-guiding conditions ( A n ' l n = A n " / n = The various curves correspond i o different values of the dlffusion coefficient measured in units of IO-' m*/s.

should increase with increasing y , as is evident in Fig. 6(c). C. Influence o Carrier Diffusion f We have studied the influence of lateral carrier diffusion by comparing the frequency modulation responses for different values of the diffusion coefficient ranging from D = 0 to D = 200 x lop3m2/s. Fig. 7 shows the result for an index-guided laser ( A n f/ n = A n " / n = l o p 3 ) , and Fig. 8 for a gain-guided laser ( A n ' l n = An'' / n = From these figures, we conclude that there is a tendency of carrier diffusion to reduce the height of the resonance peak and to lower the wavelength modulation amplitude at low frequencies. In particular, our results differ qualitatively from the results presented in Thompson's book [14] for lasers without lateral carrier confinement. We are not able to reproduce the strong depression of the power modulation response that is predicted in [ 141 for modulation frequencies extending from high frequencies down to well below the relaxation oscillation resonance frequency. However, a realistic value for D is expected to be in the range from 3 to 6 X m2/s for AlGaAs lasers [13], [21]-[23]. As can be seen from Figs. 7-8, the modulation response obtained for these values of the diffusion constant differ little from the response obtained with no diffusion ( D = 0 ) . On the other hand, experiments [ l ] , [24], [25] show that the relaxation oscillations are substantially damped. Gain saturation, an effect that we have excluded from consideration in this work, may explain the damping [7].
V . CONCLUSION We have developed a laser rate equation model for injection lasers which takes into account the waveguide na-

aly2

u2y3

+ 1 u3y4 + C

(A2)

where C is a constant of integration. Since y' and y must tend to zero as x tends to infinity, C = 0. Equation (A2) may then be written
Y'
Y(Ul

+ +2Y

= +1

(A3)

+ +3Y)

which again may be integrated to yield

1 -=In

(x - xo)

('44)

where xo is a constant of integration. Equation (A4) may be inverted to yield

where we have introduced L = 1/&, the diffusion length when u2 = u3 = 0. In the case u3 = 0, xo may be redefined so that the solution may be written Y =

3a1
2a2 s i h 2 ( I x - x 0 1 / 2 ~ ) '

(A6)

HAFSKJER A N D SUDBB: MODELING FM RESPONSE OF DIODE LASERS

633

A convenient boundary condition in the diffusion equation (1) for large x is obtained by requiring that N ( x ) for some large x = x , can be smoothly matched to a function of the form (A6). The boundary condition for the small-signal perturbations N p ( x ) and N q ( x ) in (29) and (30) can also be determined from the steady-state solution (A6) as follows. Equations (29) and (30) combined are one inhomogeneous linear differential equation for the complex quantity N c ( x ) = N p ( x ) + i N q ( x ) .Thus, for allx sufficiently large that the optical field is negligible, the ratio N ; ( x ) / N , ( x ) is uniquely determined once the steady-state solution N o ( x ) is given. This ratio may then be computed for a particular value x, of x by integration of (29) and (30) from a very large x inwards to x = x , , using the steadystate solution N o ( x ) of the form (A6). APPENDIX B PERTURBATION EXPANSION THE PROPAGATION FOR CONSTANT P The perturbation of the propagation constant due to a perturbation of the dielectric function E is analyzed and discussed in [5]. In this Appendix, both in-phase and quadrature components relative to the injection current modulation are considered, and in addition, the dispersion (the k dependence) of E is taken into account. In [5], the modal phase index no and the group index ng are assumed to be equal. Equation (10) is

Combining (B4) and (B5), we obtain

where the mode index is no = P o / k o . Equation (B6) shows that gain modulation P;,q and wavelength modulation kP,, are intimately coupled. Because the laser operates close to the gain peak, the imaginary part of ng may be neglected compared to the imaginary part of no. Furthermore, because &L (where L is the length of the laser) is on the order of 1 (assuming mirror reflectivity not close to l), is on the order nKL. For a strongly index-guided laser, E(, is small compared to E;, and with the normalization (B3), S E o ( x ) d x is then close to unity. PP,, may then be expanded in E l / E ; and n$ /& to yield

a ; E ( x ) + k2E(x, N ( x ) , k ) E ( x ) = p 2 E ( x ) . ( B l ) The steady-state solutions Eo, N o , ko, and Po discussed in Section 11-B satisfy
a.$o(X)

+ 2 n;
act

+ k&o(x) E o ( x ) = P $ W .

[2EbE,!, - E;(x) ( n [ / n ; )

(B2)
- Np,qd x .

With the normalization

IEo(x)l d x = 1 ,

aN

E ; ( x ) E $ ( x ) dx = 0

(B3)

the in-phase and quadrature components of the small-signal perturbations Pp and P, to /3 may be expressed via

aE + k i - Np,, + k i aN
Eo(x) d x .
034) First-order perturbation theory from quantum mechanics has been used in obtaining (B4). The partial derivatives & / a N and & / a k are evaluated at N = N o ( x ) and k = ko. Specializing to the case Np,q = 0, we obtain the modal group index nR = a p / a k from (B4):

The wavelength modulation kp,qis given by (B7) Gince the cavity resonance condition implies that 0is an integer multiple of ?r/L, and thus that @L,g = 0. For a nonzero modulation frequency, the gain modulation P;,q is, in general, nonzero. However, in the limit of zero mcfdulation frequency, the gain is clamped and P;,, = 0. The quadrature component Nq of the carrier density modulation then vanishes. Assuming, furthermore, that E ( X , N , k ) depends linearly on N [(15) and (16)], the wavelength modulation kp may in the limit of zero modulation frequency be written

kp = y--( 1 no ng

k0

+ C Y ) EhEl

aErr
~

aN

Np d x

(B9)

where we have used (B8) with

0 = 0: ;

(B10)

+ ki ak

d x ) / S E0(x) d x .

(B5)

and where we have introduced Henrys linewidth en) hancement factor [16] CY = ( a E r / a N ) / ( a E r r / a N [see

634

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS. VOL. 24. NO. 4, APRIL 1988

(22)]. Equation (B9) shows that the wavelength modulation increases when the imaginary part of the field Eo increases, i.e., when the wavefront curvature of the laser mode increases.
REFERENCES
S . Kobayashi. Y. Yamamoto, M. Ito, and T . Kimura, Direct frequency modulation in AlGaAs semiconductor lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, pp. 582-595, 1982. K. Kikuchi, T. Fukushima, and T. Okoshi, Stripe-structure dependence of frequency modulation characteristics of AlGaAs lasers, Electron. Lett., vol. 21, pp. 1088-1090, 1985. A. S . Sudb6. Direct measurement of the frequency modulation characteristics of a coupled cavity laser, Electron. Lett., vol. 20, pp. 88-89, 271. 1984. 0. Nilsson and Y. Yamamoto, Small-signal response of a semiconductor laser with inhomogeneous linewidth enhancement factor: Possibilities of a flat carrier-induced FM response, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 46, pp. 223-225, 1985. A. S . Sudbe, The frequency chirp of current modulated semiconductor diode lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-22, pp. 1006-1008, 1986. K. Furuya, Y. Suematsu, and T. Hong, Reduction of resonancelike peak in direct modulation due to carrier diffusion in injection laser, J . Appl. O p t . , vol. 17, pp. 1949-1952, 1978. C . B. Su, V. Lanzisera, and R. Olshansky, Measurement of nonlinear gain from FM modulation index of InGaAsP lasers, Electron. L e f t . , vol. 21, pp. 893-895, 1985. J . Buus, Principles of semiconductor laser modelling, Proc. IEE J , vol. 132, pp. 42-51, 1985. K. Aiki, M . Nakamura, T . Kuroda, and J . Umeda, Channeledisubstrate planar structure (AIGa)As injection lasers, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 30, pp. 649-651, 1977. [IO] K. Aiki,-M. Nakamura, T. Kuroda, J . Umeda, R. Ito, N. Chinone, and M. Maeda, Transverse mode stabilized AI,Ga, -.%Asinjection lasers with channeled-substrate-planar structure, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-14, pp. 89-94, 1978. [ 1 I] J . Buus, The effective index method and its application to semiconductor lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, pp. 10831089, 1982. [ 121 G. Lengyel, P. Meissner, E. Patzak, and K. H. Zschauer, An analytical solution of the lateral current spreading and diffusion problem in narrow oxide stripe (GaAI)As/GaAs DH lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, pp. 618-625, 1982. [ 131 P. Meissner, E. Patzak, and D. Yevick, A self-consistent model of stripe geometry lasers based on the beam propagation method, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-20, pp. 899-905, 1984. [I41 G. H. B. Thompson, Physics of Semiconductor Laser Devices. New York: Wiley, 1980. 1151 C . H. Henry, R. A . Logan, and F. R. Merrit, Measurement of gain and absorption spectra in AlGaAs buried heterostructure lasers, J . Appl. Phys., vol. 51, pp. 3042-3050, 1980. [I61 C. H. Henry, Theory of the linewidth of semiconductor lasers, IEEEJ. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, pp. 259-264, 1982. [I71 NAG FORTRAN Library Manual, Mark I l . Oxford, England: Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd., 1984.

J . E. Bowers, W. T . Tsang, T. L. Koch, N. A. Olsson, and R. A. Logan, Microwave intensity and frequency modulation of heteroepitaxial-ridge-overgrown distributed feedback lasers, Appl. Phys. L e f t . , vol. 46, pp. 233-235, 1985. D. Welford, A rate equation analysis for the frequency chirp to modulated power ratio of a semiconductor diode laser, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-21, pp. 1749-1751, 1985. 0. Doyle, Measuring modulus and phase of chirplmodulated power ratio, Electron. Letr., vol. 23, pp. 133-134, 1987. G. P. Agrawal, Fast-Fourier-transform based beam-propagation model for stripe-geometry semiconductor lasers: Inclusion of axial effects,J. Appl. Phys., vol. 56, pp. 3100-3109, 1984. J. Buus, Models of the static and dynamic behavior of stripe geometry lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-19, pp. 953960, 1983. P. M. Asbeck, D. A. Cammack, J . J. Daniele, and V. Klebanoff, Lateral mode behavior in narrow stripe lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-15, pp. 727-733, 1979. L. Figueroa, C. W. Slayman, and H. W. Yen, High-frequency characteristics of GaAlAs injection lasers, IEEE J . Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, pp. 1718-1727, 1982. A. S . SudbZ, Power and frequency modulation characteristics of a coupled cavity dynamic single mode GaAlAs laser, IEEE J . Quatlrum Electron., vol. QE-21, pp. 551-558, 1985.

Lars Hafskjaer was born on April 8, 1952. He received the Siv.lng. degree and the Dr.ing. degree in physics from the Norwegian Institute of Technology, University of Trondheim, in 1978 and 1983, respectively. His thesis research was on scintillation processes in organic liquids. Since 1984 he has been with the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration Research Department, Kjeller, Norway, working in areas related to the application of fiber optics in telecommunication.

Aasmund Sv Sudb# was born on January 13, 1951. He received the siv. ing. degree in physics from the University of Trondheim, Norges Teknishe Hogskole, Norway, in 1975, and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979, having worked on the problem of unimolecular reactions initiated by strong infrared light. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow for two years at the IBM Thomas J . Watson Research Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY, on collisional relaxation of excited gas molecules. Since 1981 he has been with the Norwegian Telecommunication Administration Research Establishment, Kjeller, Norway, working in areas related to the application of fiber optics in telecommunication.