Dynamic behaviors of semiconductor lasers under strong sinusoidal current modulation: modeling and experiments at 1.3 μm

The theoretical analysis is based on rate equations including gain-compression effects. General criteria are established to predict the existence of irregular behaviors. Experiments are performed on a single-mode buried-heterostructure InGaAsP laser at 1.3 μm. An original method is proposed to evaluate the parameters of the rate equations. Fully optical measurements are used. The nonlinear gain coefficient and the electrical response of the packaged laser are simultaneously determined from small-signal characteristics. Time-domain measurements show the three behaviors achieved with the laser, i.e., simple periodic, periodic with multiple spikes, and periodic doubling. Excellent agreement is found between experiments and calculations. Frequency-domain measurements are focused on distortions in periodic regimes. A quantitative limit of perturbation theories is given which corresponds to a second-order harmonic level exceeding -15 dB