Analysis of broadly tunable coupled-cavity semiconductor lasers

Ferdous K Khan; Daniel T Cassidy

doi:10.1364/AO.50.004834

Analysis of broadly tunable coupled-cavity semiconductor lasers

Appl Opt. 2011 Aug 20;50(24):4834-43. doi: 10.1364/AO.50.004834.

Authors

Ferdous K Khan¹, Daniel T Cassidy

Affiliation

¹ Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, JHE-A315, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L7 Canada.

PMID: 21857707
DOI: 10.1364/AO.50.004834

Abstract

We report on the spectral properties for above-threshold operation of broadly tunable, asymmetric multiple quantum well (AMQW), coupled-cavity InGaAsP/InP semiconductor diode lasers. We developed a traveling wave model to understand the mode selection that the lasers exhibit. We find that a weak, short external cavity (SXC) can be used to obtain single frequency operation on each longitudinal mode over the ∼100 nm tuning range of the uncoated AMQW coupled-cavity lasers. We measured the spectral properties of AMQW coupled-cavity lasers with and without an SXC. In a synthesized optical coherent optical tomography application, the use of an SXC with an AMQW coupled-cavity laser reduces the coherence length and hence enhances the performance of the AMQW coupled-cavity laser for optical coherence tomography applications.