Coherence properties of a semiconductor laser with feedback from a distant reflector: experiment and theory

The visibility, i.e. the absolute value of the field-autocorrelation function, of a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback has been measured. The feedback was provided by a mirror that was placed at a distance exceeding the coherence length of the emitted light. The amount of feedback varie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE journal of quantum electronics Vol. 28; no. 6; pp. 1459 - 1469
Main Authors Hamel, W.A., van Exter, M.P., Woerdman, J.P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY IEEE 01.06.1992
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Subjects
Beam characteristics: profile, intensity, and power; spatial pattern formation
Coherence
Equations
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Laser feedback
Laser modes
Laser optical systems: design and operation
Laser theory
Mirrors
Optical feedback
Optics
Physics
Semiconductor device measurement
Semiconductor device noise
Semiconductor lasers
Autocorrelation function
Distributed feedback laser
Coherence
Reflector
Theoretical study
Visibility
Experimental study
Semiconductor laser
Spectrum
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Summary:The visibility, i.e. the absolute value of the field-autocorrelation function, of a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback has been measured. The feedback was provided by a mirror that was placed at a distance exceeding the coherence length of the emitted light. The amount of feedback varied between zero and the maximum feedback, for which the laser still operated in a single longitudinal mode of the semiconductor chip. The results are compared with numerical solutions of the Lang and Kobayashi equations. Over the whole range of feedback excellent agreement between experiment and theory was found. However. this agreement requires an unusually high value of the linewidth enhancement factor, i.e. a=10; the reason for this remains unclear. The self-sustained noise model, which is based on a statistical-analytical solution of the Lang and Kobayashi equations and which has been used in the past for analyzing feedback effects, is found to yield an inaccurate description of the experiments. Suggestions are given to explain this inadequacy.< >
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0018-9197
DOI:10.1109/3.135298