Recap

What is the word LASER

stands for?
• Light amplification by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation

What is Population Inversion?

Incandescent vs. Laser Light

1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent

2
 Stimulated Emission
E2 E2 E2
h h
h h  In
Out
h

E1 E1 E1

(a) Absorption (b) Spontaneous emission (c) Stimulated emission

Absorption,
In spontaneous
stimulated (random
emission, an incomingphoton)
photon emission
with energyandhstimulated
stimulates the
emission.
emission process by inducing electrons in E2 to transit down to E1.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
While moving down to E1, photon of the same energy h will be emitted
Resulting in 2 photons coming out of the system
Photons are amplified – one incoming photon resulting in two photons
coming out.
Let us assume the instantaneous populations of
E1 and E2 to be n1 and n2, respectively.
In many cases the atom has several sublevels of equal energy
within an energy level which is then said to be degenerate.
The degeneracy parameters g1 and g2 indicate the number of
sublevels within the energy levels E1 and E2 respectively. If
the system is not degenerate, then g1 and g2 may be set to
Unity.

If the atoms exist in a radiation field of photons

with energy hv12, such that the energy density of
the field is p(ν12)
Stimulated emission rate:

Absorption rate:
Rate of spontaneous Emission:
For steady state the two emission rates must balance
the rate of absorption to maintain constant populations
n1 and n2
 The way to enhance the stimulated emission over
spontaneous emission is to have a very large
photon field energy density p(v12). (optical
resonant cavity)

to obtain more stimulated emission than absorption we must

have n2 > n1. the condition n2 > n1 is called population
inversion.
 Lasing Action Diagram
Excited State

Spontaneous
Energy Emission

Metastable State
Introduction

Stimulated Emission
of Radiation
Energy

Ground State
12
 Principles of Laser
h 3 2
E E E E
3 3 3 3

h 1 3
E E E E
2 2 2 2
Metastable IN OUT
state
h 2 1 h 2 1

E Coherent photons
E 1 E E
1 1 1

( a) (b ) (c) (d )

• In actual case, excite atoms from E1 to E3.

• Exciting atoms from E1 to E3 optical pumping .
• Atoms from E3 decays rapidly to E2 emitting h3
• If E2 is a long lived state, atoms from E2 will not decay to E1 rapidly
• Condition where there are a lot of atoms in E2 population inversion
achieved! i.e. between E2 and E1.
Laser Diode Principle

Consider a p-n junction

In order to design a laser diode, the p-n
junction must be very heavily doped.
In other word, the p and n materials must be
degenerately doped
By degenerated doping, the Fermi level of the
n-side will lies in the conduction band whereas
the Fermi level in the p-region will lie in the
valance band.
 Diode Laser Operation
p+ Junction n+
E
c
p+ n+
E
g eV E E
o c Fn
Inversion E
E region c
E
Ev Holes in VB E g eV
Fp Electrons Electrons in CB E Fn
c
E
Fp

E
( a) v (b)

•P-n junction must be degenerately doped. V

•Fermi level in valance band (p) and
conduction band (n).
•No bias, built n potential; eVo barrier to stop
electron and holes movement
•Forward bias, eV> Eg
•Built in potential diminished to zero
•Electrons and holes can diffuse to the space
charge layer
Population Inversion in Diode Laser
Energy

Optical gain EF n  EF p
CB
EF n
Electrons
Ec in CB
eV 0 h
Eg
Ev Holes in VB
= Empty states At T > 0
EF p
VB At T = 0
Optical absorption
Density of states
(a) (b)

(a) The density of states and energy distribution of electrons and holes in
the conduction and valence bands respectively at T  0 in the SCL
under forward bias such that E Fn  E Fp > E g . Holes in the VB are empty
states. (b) Gain vs. photon energy.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Population Inversion in
Diode Laser
More electrons in
the conduction
band near EC
CB
EFn
Electrons in CB

eV Eg
Than electrons in
Holes in VB the valance band
EFp near EV
VB

EFn-EfP = eV
There is therefore a population inversion between
eV > Eg
energies near EC and near EV around the junction.
eV = forward bias voltage
This only achieved when degenerately doped p-n
Fwd Diode current pumping  junction is forward bias with energy > Egap
injection pumping
 The Lasing Action
• The population inversion region is a layer along the
junction  also call inversion layer or active region
• Now consider a photon with E = Eg
• Obviously this photon can not excite electrons from EV
since there is NO electrons there
• However the photon CAN STIMULATE electron to fall
down from CB to VB.
• Therefore, the incoming photon stimulates emission
than absorption
• The active region is then said to have ‘optical gain’ since
the incoming photon has the ability to cause emission
rather than being absorbed.
 For Successful Lasing Action:
1. Optical Gain (not absorb)
Achieved by population inversion
2. Optical Feedback
Achieved by device configuration
Needed to increase the total optical amplification by
making photons pass through the gain region multiple
times
Insert 2 mirrors at each end of laser
This is term an oscillator cavity or Fabry Perot cavity
Mirrors are partly transmitted and party reflected
the resonance condition along the axis of the cavity is given
by n is the refractive index of the
amplifying medium, q is an integer
discrete emission frequencies f are defined by:
Discrete emission frequencies f are defined by:

Modes are separated by a frequency interval

The mode separation in terms of the free

space wavelength
Reflection of Photons Back and
Forth, Higher Gain
Fabry-Parrot Cavity

The photons vibrates

to and forth with
resonant wavelength
 Laser
Gain + Feedback = laser
Fabry-Perot Laser
(resonator) cavity
 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.
Laser oscillation may also occur in a direction which is transverse to the axis of the
cavity. This gives rise to resonant modes which are transverse to the direction of
propagation.

These transverse electromagnetic modes are designated in a similar manner to

transverse modes in waveguides by TEMlm where the integers l and m indicate the
number of transverse modes .

unlike the longitudinal modes which contribute only a single spot of light to the
laser output, transverse modes may give rise to a pattern of spots at the output.
This may be observed from the low-order transverse mode patterns shown in
Figure 6.7 on which the direction of the electric field is also indicated.

In the case of the TEM00 mode all parts of the propagating wavefront are in phase.
This is not so, however, with higher order modes (TEM10, TEM11, etc.) where phase
reversals produce the various mode patterns. Thus the greatest degree of
coherence, together with the highest level of spectral purity, may be obtained from
a laser which operates in only the TEM00 mode. Higher order transverse modes only
occur when the width of the cavity is sufficient for them to oscillate. Consequently,
they may be eliminated by suitable narrowing of the laser cavity.
Threshold condition for laser
oscillation
 Rate equations
The two rate equations for electron density
n, and photon density φ, are:
Although these rate equations may be used to study both
the transient and steady-state behavior of the
semiconductor laser, we are particularly concerned with
the steady-state solutions. The steady state is
characterized by the left hand side of Eqs (6.26) and (6.27)
being equal to zero, when n and φ have nonzero values.

There is therefore a threshold value of n which

satisfies the equality of Eq above
The threshold current written in terms of its
current density Jth, required to maintain
n = nth in the steady state when φ = 0, may be
obtained from Eq. (6.26) as:

The steady-state photon density φs is

provided by substituting above Eq. in Eq.
(6.26) giving:
For strongly confined structures the threshold
current density for stimulated emission
Jth is to a fair approximation related to the
threshold gain coefficient for the
laser cavity through:
 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:

I ( z, t )  I ( z)e j (t  z )
• 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:
 I ( z )  I (0) expg (h )   (h ) z  [4-20]

R1 n1 R2

Z=0 n2 Z=L

I (2 L)  I (0) R1R2 expg (h )   (h )(2L) [4-21]

 : Optical confinemen t factor, g : gain coefficient

2
 n1  n2 
α : effective absorption coefficient, R   
 n1  n2 
Lasing Conditions:
I (2 L)  I (0)
[4-22]

exp(  j 2 L)  1
 Threshold gain & current density

1  1 
g th    ln  [4-23]
2 L  R1 R2 

Laser starts to " lase" iff : g  gth

For laser structure with strong carrier confinement, the threshold current
Density for stimulated emission can be well approximated by:

gth  J th [4-24]

 : constant depends on specific device constructi on

 Efficiency
A useful definition is that of the differential external
quantum efficiency ηD which is the ratio of the
increase in photon output rate for a given increase in
the number of injected electrons. If Pe is the optical
power emitted from the device, I is the current, e is
the charge on an electron and hf is the photon energy,
then:
The internal quantum efficiency of the semiconductor
laser ηi,
Optical Feedback
In diode laser it is not necessary to use external mirrors to
provide positive feedback. The high refractive index
normally ensure that the reflectance at the air/material
interface is sufficiently high
The diode is often cleaved at one end and roughened at
the other end.
This results in the radiation generated within the active
region spread out into the surrounding lossy GaAs, and
there is a confinement of the radiation within a small
region called the mode volume,
In the a mode volume, there are additional carriers
present which increases the refractive index of the
material as compared to the surrounding material.
This produces a dielectric waveguide similar to the
heterojunctuction LED. However the difference is too
small to be an efficient waveguide.
Laser threshold depends on
Temperature
 Spectrum from a laser Diode

 (  0 ) 
g ( )  g (0) exp    : spectral width
 2 
2
 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
.
VCSEL
 Distributed Feedback Laser
(Single Mode Laser)

The optical feedback is provided by fiber Bragg Gratings

 Only one wavelength get positive feedback
 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.

Optical Fiber communications, 3rd ed.,G.Keiser,McGrawHill, 2000

 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.
 Broad-area GaAs/AlGaAs DH injection laser
• The DH laser structure provides optical
confinement in the vertical direction through the
refractive index step at the heterojunction
interfaces, but lasing takes place across the whole
width of the device.
• This situation is illustrated in Figure which shows
the broad-area DH laser where the sides of the
cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges
of the device in order to reduce unwanted
emission in these directions and limit the number
of horizontal transverse modes.
• However, the broad emission area creates several
problems including difficult heat sinking, lasing
from multiple filaments in the relatively wide
active area and unsuitable light output geometry
for efficient coupling to the cylindrical fibers.
To overcome these problems while also reducing the required
threshold current, laser structures in which the active region does
not extend to the edges of the device were developed.
The stripe therefore acts as a guiding mechanism which overcomes
the major problems of the broad-area device. However, although
the active area width is reduced the light output is still not
particularly well collimated due to isotropic emission from a small
active region and diffraction within the structure.

The optical output and far-field emission pattern are also

illustrated in Figure .The output beam divergence is typically 45°
perpendicular to the plane of the junction and 9° parallel to it.
Nevertheless, this is a substantial improvement on the broad-area
laser.
A common technique involved the introduction of
stripe geometry to the structure to provide optical
containment in the horizontal plane.

The structure of a DH stripe contact laser is shown

in Figure where the major current flow through
the device and hence the active region is within the
stripe.

Generally, the stripe is formed by the creation of

high-resistance areas on either side by techniques
such as proton bombardment or oxide isolation.
The stripe contact device also gives, with the correct balance of
guiding, single transverse (in a direction parallel to the junction
plane) mode operation, whereas the broad-area device tends
to allow multimode operation in this horizontal plane.

Numerous stripe geometry laser structures have been

investigated with stripe widths ranging from 2 to 65 μm, and
the DH stripe geometry structure has been widely utilized for
optical fiber communications. Such structures have active
regions which are planar and continuous.

Hence the stimulated emission characteristics of these

injection lasers are determined by the carrier distribution
(which provides optical gain) along the junction plane. The
optical mode distribution along the junction plane is, however,
decided by the optical gain and therefore these devices are
said to be gain-guided laser structures see .

In addition, ridge waveguide laser diodes (see Section 6.5.2)

with stripe widths of 5, 10 and 20 μm and lengths ranging from
400 to 1500 μm have also been .
 SINGLE MODE OPERATION

For single-mode operation, the optical output from a laser must

contain only a single longitudinal and single transverse mode. Single
transverse mode operation, however, may be obtained by reducing
the aperture of the resonant cavity such that only the TEM00 mode is
supported.

To obtain single-mode operation it is then necessary to eliminate all

but one of the longitudinal modes.

One method of achieving single longitudinal mode operation is to

reduce the length
L of the cavity until the frequency separation of the adjacent modes
given by δf = c/2nL is larger than the laser transition linewidth or
gain curve.

The lateral modes (in the plane of the junction) may be confined by
the restrictions on
the current flow provided by the stripe geometry. In general, only
the lower order modes
are excited, which appear as satellites to each of the longitudinal
modes,stripe contact devices often have instabilities and strong
nonlinearities (e.g. kinks) in their light output against current
 Distributed feedback lasers
When the period of the corrugation is equal to lλB/2ne, where l
is the integer order of the grating, λB is the Bragg wavelength
and ne is the effective refractive index of the waveguide, then
only the mode near the Bragg wavelength λB is reflected
constructively (i.e. Bragg reflection).

Therefore, as may be observed in Figure this particular mode

will lase while the other modes exhibiting higher losses are
suppressed from oscillation.

It should be noted that first-order gratings (i.e. l = 1) provide

the strongest coupling within the device. Nevertheless, second-
order gratings are sometimes used as their larger spatial
period eases fabrication.
laser the optical grating is usually applied over the entire active region
which is pumped,whereas in the DBR laser the grating is etched only
near the cavity ends and hence distributed feedback does not occur in
the central active region.

The unpumped corrugated end regions effectively act as mirrors whose

reflectivity results from the distributed feedback mechanism which is
therefore dependent on wavelength.

In addition, this latter device displays the advantage of separating the

perturbed regions from the active region but proves somewhat lossy
due to optical absorption in the unpumped distributed reflectors.

It should be noted that the grating is shown in a passive waveguide

layer adjacent to the active gain region for both device structures. This
structure has evolved as a result of the performance deterioration with
earlier devices (at temperatures above 80 K) in which the corrugations
were applied directly to the active layer .
VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE –EMITTING LASER DIODE

A short cavity for the VCSEL

may be obtained by
reducing the cross-
sectional area in which
gain occurs.

Current confinement can

be realized by ion
implantation* while also
effectively providing for
the short cavity.

An advantage of the DBR

mirror design is that any
light reflected back
towards the laser from any
other part of the structure
cannot re-enter the
resonator and hence the
VCSEL is effectively isolated
against any other optical
signals entering it.
Another method referred to as ‘selectively oxidized’ utilizes
the formation of an insulating aperture of aluminum oxide
between the cavity layer and one of the DBR mirrors.

In this technique an oxidization layer is created, and since the

oxide layer has a low refractive index compared with the
semiconductor material, it acts as a waveguide.

The output of such a VCSEL is limited, however, by the oxide

aperture which
confines both the electric current and also the optical modes.
Hence the aperture must be kept small (i.e. less than 7 μm) to
ensure fundamental mode operation which consequently
reduces the possible output signal power.

Alternatively, photonic crystals can be used to introduce

permanent defects in order to confine the electric current.
 In conclusion about the
homojunction laser….
• The main problem with the homojunction laser diode is that the threshold
current density, Jth is far too high for practical applications.
• JTH increases with temperature, too high at room temperature, not
continuous but pulsed laser output.
• Homojunction laser has:
– Poor optical
– Less carrier confinement
• If Jth is low: improve rate of stimulated emission & improve efficiency of
optical cavity
• To get low Jth:
– Confined carriers in a narrow region  carrier confinement
– Build dielectric waveguide around the optical gain region (increase photon
concentration hence stimulated emission)  photon confinement
• How do we achieve that?
– heterostructured laser diodes
 The Heterojunction Laser
Single & Double
Metal GaAs sandwiched
contact (+) between the higher
band gap AlGaAs

n GaAlAs
1m p GaAs N GaAs
n GaAlAs
p GaAlAs
p GaAs
P GaAlAs
Metal GaAs sandwiched between
contact (-) the higher band gap AlGaAs.
GaAs is the active region
N-p-P where lasing takes place N-n-p-P
 Heterojunction laser
(a) A double
n p p heterostructure diode has
two junctions which are
(a) AlGaAs GaAs AlGaAs between two different
bandgap semiconductors
(~0.1 m) (GaAs and AlGaAs).
Electrons in CB Ec
Ec (b) Simplified energy
Ec
2 eV
band diagram under a
2 eV
1.4 eV large forward bias.
Lasing recombination
(b) Ev takes place in the p-
Ev GaAs layer, the
active layer
Holes in VB

Refractive (c) Higher bandgap

index materials have a
(c) Active n ~ 5% lower refractive
region index
Photon
density
(d) AlGaAs layers
provide lateral optical
(d) confinement.

© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

 Hazard Terms
Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE)
The MPE is defined in ANSI Z-136.1"The level of laser radiation to
which a person may be exposed without hazardous effect or adverse
biological changes in the eye or skin."
The MPE is not a distinct line between safe and hazardous exposures.
Instead they are general maximum levels, to which various experts
agree should be occupationally safe for repeated exposures.
The MPE, expressed in [J/cm^2] or [W/cm^2], depends on the laser
parameters:
• wavelength,
• exposure duration,
• pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF),
• nature of the exposure (specular, diffuse reflection).
83
Optical Power in Laser is Very High due to Optical
Feedback and Higher Forward Bias Current .

Threshold current density