Optical Fiber Communications

Optical Sources III

Dr R.S Kaler
Senior Professor, ECED
TIET, Patiala
 LED Principle
 Spontaneous emission

 Open circle represents initial state of the electron and heavy dot represents final state
 Incident photons are shown on the left of each diagram and emitted photons on the right side
 Laser Diode Principle
 Three main process for laser action:
1- Photon absorption
2- Spontaneous emission
3- Stimulated emission

 These three key transition processes are involved in laser action

 Open circle represents initial state of the electron and heavy dot represents final state
 Incident photons are shown on the left of each diagram and emitted photons on the right side
 Laser Diode Principle
 Stimulated emission can occur when we have a population inversion, i.e. when we have injected
so many minority carriers that in some regions there are more excited carriers (electrons) than
ground state carriers (holes).
 Given an incident photon of the bandgap energy, a second photon will be “stimulated” by the
first photon resulting in two photons with the same energy and phase.
 This phase coherence results in minimal divergence of the optical beam resulting in a directed
light source.
 LED/ LASER Diode
Parameters LED LASER

It emits light by spontaneous emission. It emits light by stimulated emission.

Working operation

The emitted light is incoherent i.e. photons are It possesses a coherent beam with identical phase
Coherent/Incoherent
in random phase among themselves. relation of emitted photons.

Emitted light power is relatively low, Linearly Output power is high (Few mW to GW) , Proportional
Output power
proportional to drive current to current above the threshold

It requires small applied bias and operates It requires high driving power and high injected
Bias/Current
under relatively low current densities. current density is needed.

Coupled power Moderate High

Speed Slower Faster

Spectral width Wider, 25 to 100 nm (10 to 50 THz) Narrower, <10-5 to 5 nm (<1 MHz to 2 MHz)

Fiber Type Multimode only Singlemode and multimode

Modulation Bandwidth Moderate, Tens of KHz to tens of MHz High, Tens of MHz to tens of GHz
 LASER
Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation
Local Oscillator Laser (Optical Oscillator)
1- An amplifier with a gain-saturated mechanism The amplifier is the pumped active medium, such
as biased semiconductor region

2- A feedback system Feedback can be obtained by placing active

medium in an optical resonator, such as Fabry-
Perot structure two mirrors separated by a
prescribed distance

3- A frequency selection mechanism Frequency selection is achieved by resonant

amplifier and by the resonators, which admits
certain modes

4- An output coupling scheme Output coupling is accomplished by making one

of the resonator mirrors partially transmitting
 Laser Diode Modes and Threshold Conditions
Laser diode is an improved LED, in the sense that uses stimulated emission in semiconductor with optical resonator
structure such as Fabry-Perot resonator with both optical and carrier confinements.
Fabry-Perot resonator cavity for a laser diode: The cleaved crystal ends function as partially reflecting mirrors.
The unused end can be coated with a dielectric reflector to reduce optical loss in the cavity.
The light beam emerging from laser forms a vertical ellipse, even though the lasing spot at the active-area facet is a
horizontal ellipse.
 Laser Diode Modes and Threshold Conditions

Behaviour of the resonant wavelengths in a Fabry-Perot cavity for three values of the mirror reflectivity
 Laser Diode Modes and Threshold Conditions
In DFB lasers, the optical resonator structure is due to the incorporation of Bragg grating or
periodic variations of the refractive index into multilayer structure along the length of the diode.

Structure of Distributed Feedback DFB Laser Source

 Laser Diode Structure and Radiation Pattern

 Efficient operation of a laser diode requires reducing the

– Lateral modes,
– Stabilizing the gain for lateral modes
– Lowering the threshold current.

 These are met by structures that confine the optical wave, carrier concentration
and current flow in the lateral direction.

 Types of laser diodes are:

– Gain-induced
– Positive index guided
– Negative index guided.
 Basic Optical Confinement Methods
It is used for bounding laser light in the lateral direction
Gain induced guide: Electrons are injected via a metallic stripe contact alter the index of refraction of
the active layer.
Positive index waveguide: The central region has a higher refractive index than the outer regions.
 Negative Index waveguide:
The central region of the active
layer has a lower refractive index
than the outer regions

Three fundamental structure for

confining optical waves in the literal
directions is for:
Gain-induced guide, Positive-index
waveguide and Negative-index
waveguide is shown in figure.
 Laser Diode With Buried Heterostructure
 Index guided laser can be made using any one of fundamentals structures.
 These are the Buried Hetrostructure, Selectively diffused construction, Varying thickness structure and
Bent layer configuration.
 To make the Buried Hetrostructure laser:
-- One etches a narrow mesa stripe in double heterostructure material.
--Mesa is then embedded in high resistivity lattice matched n-type material.
--Material is GaAlAs in 800to 900nm laser with GaAs active layer
-- InP for 1300 to 1600nm laser with an InGaAsP active layer.

Figure shows the Short wavelength

(800-900nm) GaAlAs and Long
wavelength (1300-1600nm) InGaAsP
buried heterostructure laser dioides
 Positive Index Optical Wave Confining Structure
 Selectivity diffused construction: the chemical dopant (zinc for GaAlAs laser and cadmium for
InGaAsP laser) is diffused into the active layer immediately below the metallic contact stripe.

 Varying thickness structure: a channel (or other topological configuration such as a mesa or terrace)
is etched into the substrate.

 Bent layer structure: mesa is etched into the substrate.

The figure shows the positive index

optical wave confining structure of the
selectively diffused, varying thickness
and bent layer types.
 Current Confinement In Laser Diode
 Preferential dopant diffusion method: Partially diffusing a p-type dopant through an n-type capping layer
establishes a narrow path for the current, since back biased pn junction block the current outside the
diffused region.
 Proton implementation method: Crates the regions of the high resistivity thus restricting the current to
narrow path between these regions.
 Inner stripe confinement: Technique grows the lasing structure above a channel etched into planar
material.
 Back biased: The pn junction restrict the current on both sides of the channel.

Figure shows the Four basic methods

for achieving current confinement in
laser diodes are preferential dopant
diffusion , proton implantation, inner
stripe confinement and regrowth of back
biased pn junctions.
 Energy band diagram for a quantum layer

The restriction of the carrier motion normal to

the active layer results in a quantization of the
energy levels.
The possible energy level transitions which lead
to photon emission are designated by ∆Eij.
Both single quantum well and multiple quantum
well laser have been fabricated.
Sparation between the layers are called barrier
layers.

Figure shows the energy band diagram for a

quantum layer in a multiple quantum well
laser. The parameter ∆Eij represents the
allowed energy level transitions
 Single Mode Lasers
Single mode laser is mostly based on the index-guided structure that supports only the fundamental
transverse mode and the fundamental longitudinal mode. In order to make single mode laser we have four
options:
1- Reducing the length of the cavity to the point where the frequency separation of the adjacent modes is
larger than the laser transition line width. This is hard to handle for fabrication and results in low output
power.
2- Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting laser (VCSEL)
3- Structures with built-in frequency selective grating
4- tunable laser diodes
.

Figure shows the basic architecture of a vertical

cavity surface emitting laser. The light emission is
perpendicular to the semiconductor surface.
 Frequency-Selective laser Diodes
Three types of the laser structure using built in frequency selective resonator grating: (1). Distributed
feedback laser (2). Distributed bragg reflector laser and (3). Distributed reflector laser

Distributed feedback laser (DFB)

The coupling is at a maximum for wavelength Distributed bragg reflector (DBR)
close to the bragg wavelngth which is related to The grating are located at the end of the normal
the period Λ of the corrugations by: B  2ne  active layer of the laser to replace the cleaved end
k mirrors used in the fabry perot optical resonator.
 Distributed Reflector Laser And Output Spectrum
 Output spectrum symmetrically distributed around λB in
an idealized distributed feedback laser diode
 Distributed reflector laser consists of active
 In an ideal DFB laser the longitudinal modes are spaced
and passive distributed reflector symmetrically around λB at wavelength given by:
 This structure improve the lasing properties of B 2
1
  B  (m  )
conventional DFB and DBR lasers, and has a 2ne Le 2
 where, m=0,1,2…mode order, Le: effective grating
high efficiency and high output capability.
length. Here, m=1 is more than 30dB down from m=0
amplitude
Thanks