Numerical investigation into the injection-locking phenomena of gain switched lasers for optical frequency comb generation

We present detailed numerical simulations of the laser dynamics that describe optical frequency comb formation by injection-locking a gain-switched laser. The typical rate equations for semiconductor lasers including stochastic carrier recombination and spontaneous emission suffice to show the injec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2015-05, Vol.106 (21)
Main Authors: Ó Dúill, Sean P., Anandarajah, Prince M., Zhou, Rui, Barry, Liam P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied physics
Carrier recombination
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Computer simulation
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
Continuous wave lasers
Density
Frequency locking
FREQUENCY MODULATION
Lasers
MASERS
Optical frequency
PULSES
PUMPING
RECOMBINATION
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
SPECTRAL DENSITY
Spontaneous emission
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
SWITCHES
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Summary:We present detailed numerical simulations of the laser dynamics that describe optical frequency comb formation by injection-locking a gain-switched laser. The typical rate equations for semiconductor lasers including stochastic carrier recombination and spontaneous emission suffice to show the injection-locking behavior of gain switched lasers, and we show how the optical frequency comb evolves starting from the free-running state, right through the final injection-locked state. Unlike the locking of continuous wave lasers, we show that the locking range for gain switched lasers is considerably greater because injection locking can be achieved by injecting at frequencies close to one of the comb lines. The quality of the comb lines is formally assessed by calculating the frequency modulation (FM)-noise spectral density and we show that under injection-locking conditions the FM-noise spectral density of the comb lines tend to that of the maser laser.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.4921852