Intensity and frequency noise in semiconductor lasers

Summary form only given. The author reviewed the physics governing field fluctuations in semiconductor lasers, discussed the performance levels that have been achieved in state-of-the-art devices, and tried to forecast future performance levels and novel structures/materials that may be used in these devices. Commercial semiconductor lasers are nearly ideal in terms of their physical properties. Their intensity noise spectra and short-term frequency stability are governed almost exclusively by quantum mechanical effects, and these, in turn, determine system performance levels