Emission Directionality of Semiconductor Ring Lasers: A Traveling-Wave Description

Author

Javaloyes, Julien ; Balle, Salvador

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Univ. of Glasgow, Glasgow

Volume

45

Issue

5

fYear

2009

fDate

5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

431

Lastpage

438

Abstract

We use a traveling-wave model for explaining the experimentally observed changes in the directionality of the emission of semiconductor ring lasers and its different behavior when current is increased or decreased. The modulation of the cavity losses imposed by the light extraction sections together with the thermal shift of the gain spectrum and spatial hole burning in the carrier density play a crucial role in the directionality of the emission and its changes with operation current. The differences as the current is increased or decreased correspond to the different role played by spatial hole burning.

Keywords

carrier density; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; optical hole burning; optical losses; optical modulation; ring lasers; semiconductor lasers; carrier density; cavity loss modulation; emission directionality; gain spectrum; light extraction section; semiconductor ring laser; spatial hole burning; thermal shift; traveling-wave description; Clocks; Couplers; Java; Laser feedback; Laser modes; Laser transitions; Optical coupling; Optical waveguides; Ring lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Coupled cavities; ring lasers; semiconductor lasers; thermal effects; traveling-wave modeling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2009.2014079

Filename

4812116