Photon Generation

Direct & Indirect Band Gap

Semiconductors

Surface Emitting LED

Edge Emitting LED

LASER DIODES
For higher Bandwidth (GHz)
Laser diodes have
Response time less than 1ns
GHz Bandwidth
Spectral width of the order of nm or less
High output power
Narrow beam (good coupling to single mode
fibers)

Cont
Lasing medium can be a gas, a liquid, solid or
a semiconductor.
For optical fiber systems, exclusively
semiconductor laser diodes are used.
LASER is Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation.
Produces optical radiation by the process
of stimulated emission.

LASER ACTION
Three main process for laser action:
1- Photon Absorption
2- Spontaneous Emission
3- Stimulated Emission

LASER ACTION
Population Inversion should be achieved
Number of electrons in the excited state should
always be greater than the number of electrons in the
ground state.
Pumping process should takes place
Injecting electrons into material at the device
contacts.

FABRY PEROT RESONATOR CAVITY

LASER DIODE

Optical Cavity for producing

Lasing

Fabry-Perot Resonator

Optical Cavity for Lasing

One mirror is made partially reflecting so that some
radiation can escape from the cavity for coupling to an
optical fiber.
Only a portion of the optical radiation is amplified
For a particular laser structure, there are only certain
wavelengths that will be amplified by that laser.
Amplification occurs when selected wavelengths, also
called laser modes, reflect back and forth through the
cavity.
For lasing to occur, the optical gain of the selected
modes must exceed the optical loss during one roundtrip through the cavity. This process is referred to as
optical feedback.

LASER MODES
The optical radiation within the resonance cavity of a laser diode
sets up the pattern of electric and magnetic field lines called the
modes of the cavity.
Longitudinal modes
related to the L of the cavity
Determines the principal structure of the frequency spectrum
of the emitted optical radiation
Lateral modes
lies in the plane of pn junction
Depends on the side wall preparation and width of the cavity
Determines the lateral profile of the Laser beam
Transverse modes
Lie in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the pn
junction.
Determine laser characteristics such as radiation pattern and
the threshold density.

THRESHOLD CONDITION FOR LASER

OSCILLATION

To determine the lasing condition and resonant frequencies, we

express the electromagnetic wave propagating along the longitudinal
direction, z-axis in terms of electric field phasor

E ( z , t ) I ( z ) e j ( t z )

[1]

I(z) is optical field intensity

optical radian frequency
propagation constant
Lasing is the condition at which light amplification becomes possible
by virtue of population inversion. In this case, the loss and gain of the
optical field in the optical path determine the lasing condition.
The radiation intensity of a photon at energy h varies exponentially
with a distance z amplified by factor g, and attenuated by factor

according to the following relationship:

I ( z ) I (0) exp g (h ) (h ) z

[2]

n1

R1
Z=0

R2

n2

Z=L

I (2 L) I (0) R1 R2 exp g (h ) (h ) (2 L)

[3]

: Optical confinement factor, g : gain coefficient

n1 n2

: effective absorption coefficient, R

n1 n2
Lasing Conditions:

I ( 2 L ) I ( 0)
exp( j 2 L) 1

[4]

Threshold gain & current

density
The condition to reach the lasing
threshold is the point at which the
optical gain is equal to the total loss
t in the cavity.

gth
= t =
+
end g th 1 ln 1

2 L R1 R2

[5]

Threshold gain & current

density
Laser starts to " lase" iff : g g th
For laser structure with strong carrier confinement, the threshold current
Density for stimulated emission can be well approximated by:

g th J th

[6]

: constant depends on specific device construction

Optical output vs. drive current

LASER DIODE RATE EQUATIONS

The relationship between optical output power and diode drive current
can be determined using the rate equations that govern the interaction
of photons and electrons in the active region. For active (carrier
confinement) region of depth d, the rate equations are:

Cn Rsp
dt
ph

Photon rate stimulated emission spontaneous emission photon loss

[4-25]

dn
J
n

Cn
dt qd sp
electron rate injection spontaneous recombination stimulated emission

C : Coefficient expressing the intensity of the optical emission & absorption process
Rsp : rate of spontaneous emission into the lasing mode

ph : photon life time

J : Injection current density

Threshold current Density & excess electron density

At the threshold of lasing:

0, d / dt 0, Rsp 0

from eq. [4 - 25] Cn / ph

1
0n
nth
C ph

[4-26]

The threshold current needed to maintain a steady state

threshold concentration of the excess electron, is found from
electron rate equation under steady state condition dn/dt=0
when the laser is just about to lase:

J th nth
nth
0

J th qd
qd sp
sp

[4-27]

Laser operation beyond the threshold

0 Cnth Rsp

ph

J
nth

Cnth
qd
sp
[4-28]

The solution of the rate equations [4-25] gives the

steady state photon density, resulting from stimulated
emission and spontaneous emission as follows:

ph
s
( J J th ) ph Rsp
qd

EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY

Number of photons emitted per radiative electronhole pair recombination above threshold, gives us
the external quantum efficiency.
i ( g th )
ext
g th
q dP
dP(mW)

0.8065[ m]
E g dI
dI (mA)
i 60% 70%;

ext 15% 40%

[4-29]

LASER RESONANT FREQUENCIES

Lasing condition, namely eq. [4-22]:

exp( j 2 L) 1

Assuming
mth mode is:

mc
m
2 Ln

2n

2 L 2m , m 1,2,3,...
the resonant frequency of the

m 1,2,3,...

c
2
m m 1

2 Ln
2 Ln

[4-30]

[4-31]

SPECTRUM FROM A LASER DIODE

( 0 )
g ( ) g (0) exp
2 2

: spectral width

[4-32]

LASER DIODE STRUTCURES

Homo junction Laser Diode
P-N junction formed by single crystal
semiconductor material.
Produce Higher Divergence, high threshold
current, and have low optical confinement.
Hetero junction Diode
It is an interface between two adjoining single
crystal semiconductors with different bandgap
energies.

HETEROJUNCTION LASER DIODE

STRUCTURES
Gain Guided Laser
Index Guided Laser
Positive-Index Waveguide Laser
Negative-Index Waveguide Laser

GAIN GUIDED LASER

GAIN GUIDED LASER

Insulating regions at the top of the laser chip block current
from flowing to either side in a complex double-heterojunction
laser.
The only path for the current is through a narrow stripe at the
middle, which runs the length of the chip between the two
cavity mirrors.
Thus, recombination of current carriers and a population
inversion occur only in the narrow stripe through which the
current flows, so only that zone has gain.
Because there is no gain at the sides, those regions do not
emit light, even though no physical boundary separates the
stripe from the rest of the active layer.
Poorer light confinement, thresholds are high, low differential
quantum efficiency, non-linear sinks in the output
characteristic.

Index Guided Laser

Index-guided lasers add another

level
of
confinement
by
surrounding the stripe in the
active layer with a material of a
lower refractive index.
The laser has been etched during
fabrication to leave only a
narrow stripe containing the
GaAs junction layer that runs the
length of the chip.
Then n-type GaAlAs was
deposited on either side of the
stripe and covered with an
insulator before depositing a
metal contact

Positive & Negative Index Guided Laser

Positive & Negative Index

Guided Laser
In Positive index, Central region
has a high refractive index than the
outer regions.
In Negative Index, central region of
the layer have low refractive index
than the outer regions.
At the dielectric boundary, part of
the light is reflected and the rest is
refracted into the surrounding
material and thus is lost.

INDEX GUIDED LASER STRUCTURES

Buried Heterostructure (BH)

Selectively Diffused Construction
Varying Thickness Structure
Bent Layer Configuration

Laser Diode with Buried Heterostructure (BH)

Single Mode Laser

Single mode lasers are used for high speed long distance
communication.
SM lasers must contain only a single longitudinal mode and
a single transverse mode. The spectral width of the output
light is very narrow.
Lasers can have only one longitudinal mode if the length L
of the lasing cavity is reduced to the point where the
frequency separation of the adjacent mode is larger than
the laser transition line width.
Due to length L only a single longitudinal mode falls within
the gain bandwidth of the device.
In order to make single mode laser we have two options:
Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting laser (VCSEL)
Structures with built-in frequency selective grating
.

VCSEL

Frequency-Selective laser Diodes

Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser

2ne
B
k

[4-33]

Frequency-Selective laser Diodes

Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) laser

Frequency-Selective laser Diodes

Distributed Reflector (DR) laser

Modulation of Laser Diodes

Internal Modulation: Simple but suffers from non-linear

effects.
External Modulation: for rates greater than 2 Gb/s, more
complex, higher performance.
Most fundamental limit for the modulation rate is set by
the photon life time in the laser cavity:

ph

c
1
1 c
g th
ln
n
2 L R1 R2 n

[4-36]

Another fundamental limit on modulation frequency is

the relaxation oscillation frequency given by:

1
f
2

sp ph

1
I th

1/ 2

[4-37]

Relaxation oscillation peak

Pulse Modulated laser

In a pulse modulated laser, if the laser is completely

turned off after each pulse, after onset of the tcurrent
d
pulse, a time delay,
given by:

t d ln

Ip

I p ( I B I th )

: carrier life time

I B : Bias current

I p : Current pulse amplitude

[4-38]

Temperature variation of the threshold current

I th (T ) I z e

T / T0

Linearity of Laser

Information carrying
electrical signal s(t)

LED or Laser diode

modulator

Optical putput power:

P(t)=P[1+ms(t)]

Nonlinearity
x(t)

Nonlinear function y=f(x)

y(t)

x(t ) A cos t
y (t ) A0 A1 cos t A2 cos 2t ...
Nth order harmonic distortion:

An

20 log
A1

Intermodulation Distortion
x(t ) A1 cos 1t A2 cos 2 t
y (t ) Bmn cos(m1 n 2 )t

m,n 0,1,2,...

m,n

Harmonics:

n 1 , m 2

Intermodulated Terms:

1 2 ,21 2 , 1 2 2 ,...

Laser Noise

Modal (speckel) Noise: Fluctuations in the distribution

of energy among various modes.
Mode partition Noise: Intensity fluctuations in the
longitudinal modes of a laser diode, main source of
noise in single mode fiber systems.
Reflection Noise: Light output gets reflected back
from the fiber joints into the laser, couples with lasing
modes, changing their phase, and generate noise
peaks. Isolators & index matching fluids can eliminate
these reflections.