Fast tuning of 3.3 μm InAsSb-InAsSbP diode lasers using nonlinear optical effects

InAsSb-InAsSbP double heterostructures diode lasers for the spectral region 3.3 μm grown by liquid phase epitaxy have been investigated. Emission spectra, far-field patterns and wavelength tuning have been studied over a wide current range from threshold value I_th up to 3I_th at the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Current-controlled wavelength tuning has been obtained both towards shorter wavelengths (to 4.56 cm^-1) and towards longer wavelengths (up to 0.9 cm^-1) at a temperature T=77 K, at lasing generation that maintains single mode. Comparison of the emission properties of lasers driven by different types of current (short pulse current, sawtooth pulse current and quasi-CW regime) showed the same quantum-mechanical nature of current tuning. A theoretical model of this nonlinear optical phenomenon is proposed. The estimated times of current tuning, defined mainly by the photon lifetime in the cavity, are about 10^-9-10^-12 s