Optical Sources

OC 1819 – Optical Sources
M. LIMA, A. TEIXEIRA
Outline
Optical transition processes
p-n junction, heterojunction
LED, LASER
FP Laser, DFB Laser
Laser dynamics
Direct and external modulation
Extinction Ratio
Chirp
MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 2
Sources for Optical Transmitters
• Many types of optical sources are available
– Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
– Solid state lasers
– Gas lasers
– Semiconductor lasers
– Fiber lasers
•Semiconductor Lasers are preferred

– Powered by electrical energy
– Directly converts electrical signals to optical signals
– Generate coherent light source unlike LEDs

Optical transition processes (semiconductors)
• Need to consider three optical transition processes:
- Absorption
- Spontaneous emission
- Stimulated emission
Energy level diagrams for electrons in the active medium
Excited state
(High Energy)
Energy
BAND GAP VPI (Photonics Curriculum)
Ground state
(Low Energy)
Optical Absorption Process
• Absorption: a photon with energy > (E2 – E1)
• The photon’s energy can be absorbed by an
electron in state E1, thus exciting it to state E2
Excited state
E2
photon
photon absorbed
VPI (Photonics Curriculum)
Ground state
E1
Optical Emission Processes
• Spontaneous Emission: electron in excited state E2
can spontaneously decay to state E1
• A photon with energy hf > (E2 – E1) is emitted
Excited state
E2
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) photon

Ground state
E1
Light produced by spontaneous emission:
– Random propagation direction
– Random phase
– Random frequency
– is incoherent (broad linewidth)
Excited state
E2
Ground state
E1
• Stimulated Emission
• A photon with energy > (E2 – E1): triggers transition
of an excited electron  identical photon is emitted
• Produced light is coherent (desirable)
Excited state
E2
photon
Identical
photon
Ground state
E1
Optical Transition Processes
• All three processes related (Einstein Relations)
• At thermal equilibrium, absorption = emission
• Electrons mostly in state E1: (N2 << N1)
• Spontaneous emission dominates
Population Excited state

N2 E2
Population Ground state

VPI (Photonics Curriculum) N1 E1
Population Inversion
• Stimulated emission – coherent light, desirable
• Need electrons to be mostly in state E2
• Population inversion achieved by electrical pumping
• N2 >> N1, stimulated emission dominates

N2 E2

N1 E1

Emission of light

p-n junction
Joining n-type material with p-type material causes excess electrons in the n-
type material to diffuse to the p-type side and excess holes from the p-type
material to diffuse to the n-type side.
Movement of electrons to the p-type side exposes positive ion cores in the
n-type side while movement of holes to the n-type side exposes negative ion
cores in the p-type side, resulting in an electron field at the junction and
forming the depletion region.
A voltage results from the electric field formed at the junction.
Depletion region
n p

p-n junction
Reverse biasing Direct biasing
◦ Depletion region increased ◦ Depletion region decreased
◦ No movement of carriers through it ◦ Carriers flow, recombination occurs
◦ No recombination ◦ Photons generated
increased decreased
n p n p
External voltage External voltage

Heterojunction
electrons
Heterostructure Don’t go
◦ p–n junction made up of through
two dissimilar materials, Energy holes

with different energy gaps
◦ Recombination region well
defined
Refraction
◦ Carrier confinement index
◦ Radiative recombination
increased Optical field
distribution

LEDs
http://eagerlearning.org/electronics/introduction/light-emitting-diodes/

LEDs spontaneous emission
dominates; Incoherent light
High spectral width Low powers
https://www.thorlabs.co.jp/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=3836 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Typical-light-output-current-L-I-
characteristics-of-LED-I-and-LED-II-with-bare-chip_fig2_49689935

LED Characteristics
Low cost
◦ However the fabrication cost is the same to the laser, due to the easy
implementation and set of applications, it has reduced cost
Low power
◦ Typically low powers, however special LED can emit tens of mW
High spectral width

◦ Large emission bandwidth (tens of nm)
Incoherent light
◦ Emit light in several directions without coherence
Digital modulation
◦ Modulation bandwidth in the order of hundreds of Mbit/s
Analog modulation
◦ Quite linear response.

What does LASER stand for?
LIGHT
AMPLIFICATION by
STIMULATED
EMISSION of
RADIATION
Dr. Theodore Maiman of Hughes Research
Laboratories.

How does a Laser work?
A functional view of a laser: 4 main parts
3) Optical Resonator (Cavity)
1) Active (Gain) Medium

4) Losses:
Material and Waveguide
Mirrors Mirrors
2) Energy Pump
Mirror Mirror
(Current Source)
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) Loss Loss
A Basic Laser Structure
Fabry-Perot Laser (longitudinal section)
Active region Holes + Energy Pump

(provides gain) (Current Source)
photons
P-layer
PN Junction
N-layer
Cleaved facet Cleaved facet

(partial - Electrons (partial
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) mirror) mirror)

Population Inversion
• Stimulated emission – coherent light, desirable
• Need electrons to be mostly in state E2
• Population inversion achieved by electrical pumping
• N2 >> N1, stimulated emission dominates

N2 E2

N1 E1

Optical Cavity and Feedback
• Light amplification by stimulated emission…
is not strong, especially if the active region is short
• Optical cavity provides feedback into active region
• Light is reflected repeatedly and greatly amplified
N2 Excited state
E2
Ground state
N1 E1
along the laser
Optical Losses and Laser Output
• One mirror is partially transmitting, to get output
• Photons transmitted out are lost (mirror loss)
• Other losses: scattering in the material,
nonradiative processes
N2 Excited state
E2
Ground state
N1 E1
along the laser
Laser Spectrum (Gain vs. λ Curve)
• Laser oscillation (lasing) occurs over a range of λ
• Due to distribution of E2 and E1 around mean values
Electron Population B
Gain
E
Distribution
A hf
E2
C
Probability Lowest Energy
BANDGAP Transition (A)
Probability
Most Probable
E1 Energy Transition (B)
Hole Population Highest EnergyTransition,
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) E Distribution more likely to be absorbed (C)

Lasing Conditions
For lasing to initiate in a cavity, two conditions
need to be satisfied:
– Gain condition:
The electric field of the light, after completing one round trip
inside the cavity, should have the same amplitude
– Phase condition:
The electric field of the light, after completing one round trip
inside the cavity, should have the same phase
one round trip


Gain Condition
r2E(2L) r1E(L)
E(0) E(L)
r1r2E(2L)
Cavity Length, L
Gain Condition: E(t,0) = E(t,2L)
E(t,0) = A exp(jt); E(t, 2L) = Ar1r2exp[2L(g-i)]exp[j(t-2L)]
To satisfy the Gain Condition: r1r2exp[(g- i)2L] = 1
1 ln 1
The threshold gain: gth = i+ VPI (Photonics Curriculum)
2L r1r2
Phase Condition
4jnL 4jnL
Phase: exp(-2jL) = exp (- ) = 1, = 2m
 
Resonant cavity – discrete set of spectral lines
P

Discrete modes that can be supported by the cavity are called longitudinal modes
P
2nL
=m

2
=
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) 2nL
 
Fabry-Perot (FP) Laser spectrum
Gain
1
Fabry-Perot
Result
1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494
n wavelength (nm)

FP Laser
Characteristics of the optical signal
Characteristics:
Optical power up to around 5 mW
Spectral linewidth: 3 to 20 nm
Mode spacing: 0.7 to 2 nm
1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494
wavelength (nm)

FP Laser
Special cases
Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) FP filter

Mirrors with Low Reflectivity I=0 (passive)
gth

Another Laser Structure: DFB Laser
Refractive Index
Grating
Power spectral
Cavity modes
density
Gain Curve
frequency
Power spectral
Lasing spectrum
density

frequency
DFB Laser
Characteristics of the optical signal
Characteristics: 10
0
Emission at the 1550 nm
Relative Intensity [dB]

-10
Optical Power: 3 to 50 mw
Spectral linewidth: 10 to 100 MHz -20
(0.08 to 0.8 pm)
-30
Lateral mode supression rate:
SMSR > 50 dB -40
-50
Nowedays good lasers have been
-60
designed for Coherent detection
1525 1530 1535 1540 1545
linewidths of few kHz are available
Wavelength [nm]

Light-Current Characteristics
• The L-I curve: output light power vs. input current
• Diode characteristics, threshold current Ith
• For I > Ith, light power increases linearly with I
Light
output
(power)
Spontaneous Stimulated
emission emission
region region

Ith current

Laser: EquationRate
Rate equation describe the dynamic interaction
between excited electrons and photons
Change in carrier density:
dn I n
= - - vggs
dt qV 
Contribute Decay of Usage of electron by

from Current electrons Stimulated emission
Change in photon density:

ds =v a(n-n )s - s n
g 0  + 
dt p 
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) Photon generated by Decay of Photon generated by
stimulated emission photon Spontaneous emission

Modulation Bandwidth
LED: Popt,out variation associated to spontaneous emission,

thus limited by the carrier spontaneous lifetime
Laser: higher bandwidth due to the lower recombination

lifetime of the carriers associated to stimulated emission

Laser Dynamics:Turn On Delay
Delay between injection of current and generation of light
Current A
Carrier C E t
G
density
D t
F
Light Turn on H
output delay
(power)
B

t

Laser dynamics: modulation
Christophe Peucheret. Direct and external modulation of light.

Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, 2009.

Laser Dynamics: Modulation Bandwidth
• Determines maximum direct modulation speed
• Increases with increasing drive (bias) current
• Within practical limits, get multi-GHz modulation
+10
Light A B
output
(power) 0
B
-10
A
-20
VPI (Photonics Curriculum) current

100MHz 500MHz 2GHz 10GHz

Laser Dynamics: Modulation Bandwidth
 Agrawal, G.P. Fiber-Optic Communications Systems (3 ed. Wiley, 2002)

Laser Dynamics:
Relative Intensity Noise
Frequency shape of RIN depends on laser driving conditions
Light
output
(power) 3
RIN
1
2
2
3
1
Frequency
Current

External or direct modulation
Optical Optical
Data Optical Frequency Power
Direct Input Output
Laser
Time
Data
Input Optical Optical
External Bias CW Modulated Frequency Power
Input Output Output
Laser Modulator
Time
• Direct – simple, cheaper, lower bit rates

• External – more expensive, higher bit rates

External intensity modulation
Using modulators based on Electro-absorption (EA) or Electro-Optic (EO) effects;
the EO based modulators will be addressed later in the course
• Electro-absorption (EA) Intensity modulator

– Changes the material absorption coefficient, and consequently the intensity
of the output light as a response to a voltage signal

Exctintion Ratio (ER)=10log10(P1/P0)
 External modulation – EML:
 ER defined by the type of modulator used
and operation conditions
 Direct modulation – DML:

 ER defined by biasing and current drift (∆I)

Direct-Current Modulation
The information is encoded on semiconductor lasers
by current modulation
Light I Modulated
output Laser Light
(power)
p
Ith Current current

VPI (Photonics Curriculum) modulation

Direct modulation: Chirp
• Instantaneous frequency of the signal changes as the
driving current varies
• The frequency chirp imposed on the pulse depends on
the laser and on the driving conditions (Ibias and ∆I)
power
Frequency

Chirp effect:
increased spectral occupancy for DML,
relatively to EML
EML
DMLs

Chirp effect on DML
Chirp factor (C) and therefore the induced

spectral broadening depends on the laser
and on the operation conditions, Ibias and ∆I:
- Higher for Ibias near Ith
- Increases with ∆I
Transmission limit imposed by dispersion
Considering EML:
∆t=∆tcro=|D| L ∆λ = |D| L λo2/c ∆fmod
|D| L λo2/c ∆fmod < T  |D| L λo2/c 2B < 1/B
c 0=1.55μm, D≈17ps/(nm.km)
L -B=10Gb/s, L36.7 km
2 B 0 D
2 2
-B=20Gb/s, L9.2 km
-B=40Gb/s, L2.3 km
DML ???
Dispersion impact: EML (C0) and DML
For example, considering a

directly modulated
semiconductor laser, with C=6,
fiber dispersion limits the bit rate
to about 2 Gb/s, for L=50 km
(compare with EML)
Agrawal: Fiber –optic communication systems, 2002.

Technical Parameters
Power
◦ it must be a commitment between the sensitivity of the receiver, the tolerance to non-
linear effects, and to some defined rules (e.g.: “eye safety”, etc)
Wavelength of operation
◦ It depends on the geometry of the cavity and its composition
Wavelength Stability
◦ Variations in the temperature, pressure, current, etc can cause a variation in the
emission wavelength
◦ Even direct modulation causes the signal to have chirp
◦ variations in the refractive index due to variation of the number of carriers in the
excited state
Tuning Capacity
◦ if the laser is or not capable of being tuned in a continuous way, and if it is, over
which range.
Modulation time (bandwidth)

Technical Parameters
Spectral linewidth
◦ The dimension of the variation of the wavelength that we are modulating
[IBM White Book, pag.105]
Noise (amplitude and phase)

Evolution
BOSA
SFP, XFP

PIC development
Production
Design
Packaging

Fiber to PIC coupling
Ball-
lensed
fiber

Electrical packaging

Thermal management

Optical Sources

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Optical Sources

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OC 1819 – Optical Sources

•Semiconductor Lasers are preferred

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 3

Energy level diagrams for electrons in the active medium

BAND GAP VPI (Photonics Curriculum)

• A photon with energy hf > (E2 – E1) is emitted

VPI (Photonics Curriculum) photon

Population Excited state

Population Ground state

Population Excited state

Population Ground state

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 10

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 11

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 12

External voltage External voltage

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 13

◦ p–n junction made up of through

two dissimilar materials, Energy holes

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 14

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 15

High spectral width Low powers

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 16

High spectral width

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 17

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 18

3) Optical Resonator (Cavity)

1) Active (Gain) Medium

Active region Holes + Energy Pump

Cleaved facet Cleaved facet

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 20

Population Excited state

Population Ground state

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 21

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 24

one round trip

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 25

1488 1489 1490 1491 1492 1493 1494

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 28

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 29

Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) FP filter

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 30

VPI (Photonics Curriculum)

Relative Intensity [dB]

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 32

VPI (Photonics Curriculum)

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 33

Contribute Decay of Usage of electron by

Change in photon density:

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 34

LED: Popt,out variation associated to spontaneous emission,

Laser: higher bandwidth due to the lower recombination

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 35

VPI (Photonics Curriculum)

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 36

Christophe Peucheret. Direct and external modulation of light.

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 37

VPI (Photonics Curriculum) current

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 38

 Agrawal, G.P. Fiber-Optic Communications Systems (3 ed. Wiley, 2002)

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 39

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 40

• Direct – simple, cheaper, lower bit rates

MIEET/MIEF - OC1819 OPTICAL SOURCES 41