3rd Week Seminar - Spring 2011 - Revision3

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Optical Sources

Iwa Kartiwa
Broadband Transmission Network Lab.
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Photonics Conference 2010
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Contents
Semiconductor Physics. 2.
Light-Emitting Diodes. 3.
Laser Diodes. 4.
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Review of Semiconductor Physics
a) Energy level diagrams showing the excitation of an electron from the valence band to the conduction band.
The resultant free electron can freely move under the application of electric field.
b) Equal electron & hole concentrations in an intrinsic semiconductor created by the thermal excitation of
electrons across the band gap
-1 23
JK 10 38 . 1

=
B
k
Optical Fiber communications, 3
rd
ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000
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n-Type Semiconductor
a) Donor level in an n-type semiconductor.
b) The ionization of donor impurities creates an increased electron concentration distribution.
rd
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p-Type Semiconductor
a) Acceptor level in an p-type semiconductor.
b) The ionization of acceptor impurities creates an increased hole concentration distribution
rd
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Intrinsic & Extrinsic Materials
Intrinsic material: A perfect material with no impurities.

Extrinsic material: donor or acceptor type semiconductors.

Majority carriers: electrons in n-type or holes in p-type.
Minority carriers: holes in n-type or electrons in p-type.
The operation of semiconductor devices is essentially based on the injection
and extraction of minority carriers.
)
2
exp(
T k
E
n p n
B
g
i
= =
ly. respective ions concentrat intrinsic & hole electron, the are & &
i
n p n
e. Temperatur is energy, gap the is T E
g
2
i
n pn =
[4-1]
[4-2]
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The pn Junction
rd
Electron diffusion across a pn junction
creates a barrier potential (electric field)
in the depletion region.
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Reverse-biased pn Junction
rd
A reverse bias widens the depletion region, but allows minority carriers to move freely with the applied field.
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Forward-biased pn Junction
rd
Lowering the barrier potential with a forward bias allows majority carriers to diffuse across the junction.
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Direct Band Gap Semiconductors
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Indirect Band Gap Semiconductors
E
CB
k k
Direct Bandgap
(a) GaAs
E
CB
VB
Indirect Bandgap, E
g
k
k
k
cb
(b) Si
E
k k
Phonon
(c) Si with a recombination center
E
g
E
c
E
v
E
c
E
v
k
vb
VB
CB
E
r
E
c
E
v
Photon
VB
(a) In GaAs the minimum of the CB is directly above the maximum of the VB. GaAs is
therefore a direct bandgap semiconductor. (b) In Si, the minimum of the CB is displaced from
the maximum of the VB and Si is an indirect bandgap semiconductor. (c) Recombination of
an electron and a hole in Si involves a recombination center .
1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
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Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
For photonic communications requiring data rate 100-200 Mb/s with
multimode fiber with tens of microwatts, LEDs are usually the best
choice.
LED configurations being used in photonic communications:
1- Surface Emitters (Front Emitters)
2- Edge Emitters

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rd
a)Cross-section drawing of a typical
GaAlAs double heterostructure light
emitter. In this structure, x>y to provide
for both carrier confinement and optical
guiding.

b) Energy-band diagram showing the
active region, the electron & hole
barriers which confine the charge carriers
to the active layer.

c) Variations in the refractive index; the
lower refractive index of the material in
regions 1 and 5 creates an optical barrier
around the waveguide because of the higher
band-gap energy of this material.

) eV (
240 . 1
m) (
g
E
=
[4-3]
Heterojunction Structures
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Surface-Emitting LED
rd
Schematic of high-radiance surface-emitting LED. The active region is limitted
to a circular cross section that has an area compatible with the fiber-core end face.
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Edge-Emitting LED
Schematic of an edge-emitting double heterojunction LED. The output beam is
lambertian in the plane of junction and highly directional perpendicular to pn junction.
They have high quantum efficiency & fast response.
rd
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Spectral width of LED types
rd
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Rate equations, Quantum Efficiency & Power of
LEDs
When there is no external carrier injection, the excess density decays
exponentially due to electron-hole recombination.

n : is the excess carrier density,

Bulk recombination rate R:

Bulk recombination rate (R)=Radiative recombination rate +
nonradiative recombination rate

t /
0
) (
t
e n t n

=
lifetime. carrier :
density electron excess injected initial :
0
t
n
t
n
dt
dn
R = =
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) 1 rate( ion recombinat ve nonradiati ) 1 ( rate ion recombinat radiative
) 1 ( rate ion recombinat bulk
r nr nr r
/ R / R
/ R
= + =
= =
With an external supplied current density of J the rate equation for the electron-hole
recombination is:
region ion recombinat of thickness : electron; the of charge :
) (
d q
n
qd
J
dt
t dn
t
=
[4-6]
In equilibrium condition: dn/dt=0
qd
J
n
t
=
[4-7]
Rate equations, Quantum Efficiency & Power of
LEDs
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r nr r
nr
nr r
r
R R
R
t
t
t t
t
q =
+
=
+
=
int
Internal Quantum Efficiency & Optical Power
[4-8]
region active in the efficiency quantum internal :
int
q
Optical power generated internally in the active region in the LED is:
q v q
q
hcI
h
q
I
P
int int int
= =
[4-9]
region active current to Injected :
power, optical Internal :
int
I
P
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External Quantum Eficiency

In order to calculate the external quantum efficiency, we need to
consider the reflection effects at the surface of the LED. If we consider
the LED structure as a simple 2D slab waveguide, only light falling
within a cone defined by critical angle will be emitted from an LED.
photons generated internally LED of #
LED from emitted photons of #
ext
= q [4-10]
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| | t |
t
q
|
d T
c
) sin 2 ( ) (
4
1
0
ext
}
=
[4-11]
2
2 1
2 1
) (
4
) 0 ( t Coefficien on Transmissi Fresnel : ) (
n n
n n
T T
+
= ~ |
[4-12]
2
1 1
ext 2
) 1 (
1
1 If
+
~ =
n n
n q
[4-13]
2
1 1
int
int ext
) 1 (
power, optical emitted LED
+
~ =
n n
P
P P q
[4-14]
External Quantum Eficiency
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Modulation of LED
The frequency response of an LED depends on:
1- Doping level in the active region
2- Injected carrier lifetime in the recombination region, .
3- Parasitic capacitance of the LED
If the drive current of an LED is modulated at a frequency of the output
optical power of the device will vary as:

Electrical current is directly proportional to the optical power, thus we can
define electrical bandwidth and optical bandwidth, separately.
e
2
0
) ( 1
) (
i
P
P
et
e
+
= [4-15]
i
t
current electrical : power, electrical :
) 0 (
log 20
) 0 (
10log BW Electrical
I p
I
) I(
p
) p(
(
=
(
=
e e
[4-16]
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(
=
(
=
) 0 (
) (
log 10
) 0 (
) (
log 10 BW Optical
I
I
P
P e e [4-17]
rd
Modulation of LED
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LASER
(Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
Laser is an optical oscillator. It comprises a resonant optical amplifier
whose output is fed back into its input with matching phase. Any
oscillator contains:
1- An amplifier with a gain-saturated mechanism
2- A feedback system
3- A frequency selection mechanism
4- An output coupling scheme
In laser the amplifier is the pumped active medium, such as biased
semiconductor region, feedback can be obtained by placing active
medium in an optical resonator, such as Fabry-Perot structure, two
mirrors separated by a prescribed distance. Frequency selection is
achieved by resonant amplifier and by the resonators, which admits
certain modes. Output coupling is accomplished by making one of the
resonator mirrors partially transmitting.
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Pumped Active Medium
Three main process for laser action:
1- Photon absorption
2- Spontaneous emission
3- Stimulated emission

rd
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Lasing in a pumped active medium

In thermal equilibrium the stimulated emission is essentially negligible, since
the density of electrons in the excited state is very small, and optical emission
is mainly because of the spontaneous emission. Stimulated emission will
exceed absorption only if the population of the excited states is greater than
that of the ground state. This condition is known as Population Inversion.
Population inversion is achieved by various pumping techniques.

In a semiconductor laser, population inversion is accomplished by injecting
electrons into the material to fill the lower energy states of the conduction
band.
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Fabry-Perot Resonator
A
B
L
M
1
M
2
m = 1
m = 2
m = 8
Relative intensity
u
ou
m
u
m
u
m + 1
u
m - 1
(a) (b) (c)
R ~ 0.4
R ~ 0.8 1
u
f
Schematic illustration of the Fabry-Perot optical cavity and its properties. (a) Reflected
waves interfere. (b) Only standing EM waves, modes, of certain wavelengths are allowed
in the cavity. (c) Intensity vs. frequency for various modes. R is mirror reflectance and
lower R means higher loss from the cavity.
1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
) ( sin 4 ) 1 (
) 1 (
2 2
2
kL R R
R
I I
inc trans
+

=
[4-18]
R: reflectance of the optical intensity, k: optical wavenumber
1,2,3,.. : modes Resonant = = m m kL t
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Laser Diode
Laser diode is an improved LED, in the sense that uses stimulated emission
in semiconductor from optical transitions between distribution energy states of
the valence and conduction bands with optical resonator structure such as
Fabry-Perot resonator with both optical and carrier confinements.
rd
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Laser Diode Characteristics
Nanosecond & even picosecond response time (GHz BW)
Spectral width of the order of nm or less
High output power (tens of mW)
Narrow beam (good coupling to single mode fibers)
Laser diodes have three distinct radiation modes namely, longitudinal,
lateral and transverse modes.
In laser diodes, end mirrors provide strong optical feedback in
longitudinal direction, so by roughening the edges and cleaving the
facets, the radiation can be achieved in longitudinal direction rather
than lateral direction.
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DFB(Distributed FeedBack) Lasers
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.
rd
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Laser Operation & Lasing Condition
To determine the lasing condition and resonant frequencies, we should focus
on the optical wave propagation along the longitudinal direction, z-axis. The
optical field intensity, I, can be written as:

Lasing is the condition at which light amplification becomes possible by
virtue of population inversion. Then, stimulated emission rate into a given
EM mode is proportional to the intensity of the optical radiation in that mode.
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 varies
exponentially with a distance z amplified by factor g, and attenuated by
factor according to the following relationship:
) (
) ( ) , (
z t j
e z I t z E
| e
=
[4-19]
u h
o
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( ) | | z h h g I z I ) ( ) ( exp ) 0 ( ) ( u o u I =
[4-20]
1
R
2
R
Z=0 Z=L
( ) | | ) 2 ( ) ( ) ( exp ) 0 ( ) 2 (
2 1
L h h g R R I L I u o u I =
[4-21]
2
2 1
2 1
t, coefficien absorption effective :
t coefficien gain : g factor, t confinemen Optical :
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
=
I
n n
n n
R
1
n
2
n
Lasing Conditions:
1 ) 2 exp(
) 0 ( ) 2 (
=
=
L j
I L I
|
[4-22]
Laser Operation & Lasing Condition
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Threshold gain & current density
|
|
.
|
\
|
+ = I
2 1
1
ln
2
1
R R L
g
th
o
th
g g > : iff lase" " to starts Laser
[4-23]
For laser structure with strong carrier confinement, the threshold current
Density for stimulated emission can be well approximated by:
th th
J g | =
[4-24]
on constructi device specific on depends constant : |
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Optical output vs. drive current
rd
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Semiconductor laser rate equations
Rate equations relate the optical output power, or # of photons per unit volume, ,
to the diode drive current or # of injected electrons per unit volume, n. For active
(carrier confinement) region of depth d, the rate equations are:
u
emission stimulated ion recombinat s spontaneou injection rate electron
loss photon emission s spontaneou emission stimulated rate Photon
+ + =
u =
+ + =
u
+ u =
u
Cn
n
qd
J
dt
dn
R Cn
dt
d
sp
ph
sp
t
t
[4-25]
density current Injection :
time life photon :
mode lasing the into emission s spontaneou of rate :
process absorption & emission optical the of intensity the expressing t Coefficien :

J
R
C
ph
sp
t
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Threshold current Density & excess electron density

At the threshold of lasing:

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:

0 , 0 / , 0 ~ > u ~ u
sp
R dt d
th
ph
ph
n
C
n Cn = > > u u
t
t
1
0 / 25] - [4 eq. from
[4-26]
sp
th
th
sp
th th
n
qd J
n
qd
J
t t
= = 0
[4-27]
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Laser operation beyond the threshold

The solution of the rate equations [4-25] gives the steady state photon
density, resulting from stimulated emission and spontaneous emission
as follows:
th
J J >
sp ph th
ph
s
R J J
qd
t
t
+ = u ) (
[4-28]
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External quantum efficiency
Number of photons emitted per radiative electron-hole pair
recombination above threshold, gives us the external quantum
efficiency.

Note that:
) mA (
) mW (
] m [ 8065 . 0
) (
dI
dP
dI
dP
E
q
g
g
g
th
th i
ext

o q
q
= =
=
[4-29]
% 40 % 15 %; 70 % 60 ~ ~
ext i
q q
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Laser Resonant Frequencies
Lasing condition, namely eq. [4-22]:

Assuming the resonant frequency of the mth mode is:
,... 3 , 2 , 1 , 2 L 2 1 ) 2 exp( = = = m m L j t | |
t
|
n 2
=
1,2,3,...
2
= = m
Ln
mc
m
u
Ln Ln
c
m m
2 2
2
1
u u u = A = = A

[4-30]
[4-31]
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Spectrum from a laser Diode
width spectral :
2
) (
exp ) 0 ( ) (
2
0
o
o

= g g [4-32]
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Laser Diode Structure & Radiation Pattern

Efficient operation of a laser diode requires reducing the # of lateral
modes, stabilizing the gain for lateral modes as well as lowering the
threshold current. These are met by structures that confine the optical
wave, carrier concentration and current flow in the lateral direction.
The important types of laser diodes are: gain-induced, positive
index guided, and negative index guided.
(a) gain-induced guide (b) positive-index waveguide (c) negative-index waveguide
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Laser Diode with buried heterostructure (BH)
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Single Mode Laser
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 given in eq[4-31] 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
.
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VCSEL
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Frequency-Selective laser Diodes:
Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser
k
n
e
B
A
=
2
[4-33]
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Output spectrum symmetrically distributed around Bragg wavelength in an idealized DFB laser diode
)
2
1
(
2
2
+ = m
L n
e e
B
B

[4-35]
Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser
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Distributed Feedback Reflector (DBR) laser
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Distributed Reflector (DR) laser
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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:

Another fundamental limit on modulation frequency is the relaxation
oscillation frequency given by:
th
ph
g
n
c
R R L n
c
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
+ =
2 1
1
ln
2
1 1
o
t
[4-36]
2 / 1
1
1
2
1
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
th
ph sp
I
I
f
t t
t
[4-37]
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Pulse Modulated laser
In a pulse modulated laser, if the laser is completely turned off after
each pulse, after onset of the current pulse, a time delay, given
by:

d
t
(
(
+
=
) (
ln
th B p
p
d
I I I
I
t t
current Bias :
amplitude pulse Current : time life carrier :
B
p
I
I t
[4-38]
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Temperature variation of the threshold
current
0
/
) (
T T
z th
e I T I =
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Linearity of Laser
Information carrying
electrical signal s(t)
LED or Laser diode
modulator
Optical output power:
P(t)=P[1+ms(t)]
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Bias Point and Amplitude Range
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Nonlinearity
... 2 cos cos ) (
cos ) (
2 1 0
+ + + =
=
t A t A A t y
t A t x
e e
e
x(t) Nonlinear function y=f(x) y(t)
Nth order harmonic distortion:
|
|
.
|
\
|
1
log 20
A
A
n
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Intermodulation Distortion
= + =
+ =
n m
mn
m,n t n m B t y
t A t A t x
,
2 1
2 2 1 1
2,... 1, 0, ) cos( ) (
cos cos ) (
e e
e e
Harmonics:
2 1
, e e m n
Intermodulated Terms:
,... 2 , 2 ,
2 1 2 1 2 1
e e e e e e
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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.

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Thank you for attention

Q & A
Broadband Transmission Network Lab.
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

3rd Week Seminar - Spring 2011 - Revision3

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