Rapid and broad wavelength sweeping of standard telecommunication distributed feedback laser diode

Abstract

This Letter presents a method for the fast and broad wavelength sweeping of a standard setup of a diode's active region and its immediate vicinity, which contain the diode's optical feedback system. The selective and rapid heating of the active region is possible due to the confinement of the voltage drop to the active diode's region that has submicrometer thickness. Using the presented method and an off-the-shelf telecommunication distributed feedback laser diode, we demonstrate wavelength sweeps in excess of 10 nm that were completed in about 200 ns, while generating average optical power in excess of 50 mW. In spite of high-amplitude current-drive pulses, 6000 h continuous operation of the diode within such an operational regime did not show any significant degradation of the diode's performance.

THz Signal Generator Using a Single DFB Laser Diode and the Unbalanced Optical Fiber Interferometer

“…A particularly suitable and highly cost-efficient swept laser source, which can accommodate the requirements presented by theoretical modeling, was obtained using a standard Telecom DFB laser diode driven by unusually high-amplitude and short-duration current pulses. This method was studied in detail in [ 7 ]. The method utilizes selective and very rapid temperature cycling of the DFB laser diode’s active region.…”

“…However, the PZT fiber stretcher would be impractical for tuning the generated frequency with the proposed THz signal generator since the PZT fiber stretcher can stretch the fiber only for few millimeters with a fiber length of several meters [ 6 ]. The authors of [ 7 ] proposed a fast OFS of a standard telecommunication DFB laser diode with a selective and rapid temperature cycling of the DFB laser diode’s active region. The DFB laser diode’s active region was heated using a current pulse with a high amplitude and short duration.…”

“…The DFB laser diode’s active region was heated using a current pulse with a high amplitude and short duration. In [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], the authors proposed a linear wavelength sweep method based on the waveform modeling of a DFB laser diode’s driving current pulse, which can enable a modulation frequency tuning rate equal to the current pulse repetition rate. The main advantage of the proposed signal generator is the generation of complex waveforms, such as optical linear-frequency chirp signal using a special design of pulse current waveform, which drives a laser diode and produces a nonlinear OFS.…”

Towards a standard for the dynamic measurement of pressure based on laser absorption spectroscopy

“…and Sanders for rapid wavelength tuning. [70, 71] This tuning method also has the potential for scanning over many transitions rapidly (< 1 ms). The resulting spectra could be analyzed with a multi-spectrum fit [72] where each transition is fit together in order to determine the pressure and temperature.…”

Precision Spectroscopy to Enable Traceable Dynamic Measurements of Pressure

“…[3] By applying a 2 ampere 250 ns duration current pulse directly to the DFB Njegovec et al has demonstrated wavelength tuning on the order of 50 cm −1 in 250 ns with a 10 kHz repetition rate. [4] The wavelength tuning is driven by internal heating of the substrate due to Joule heating.…”