Semiconductor Laser Linewidth Theory Revisited

TL;DR

This paper revisits semiconductor laser linewidth theory by deriving a comprehensive, modern expression that accounts for various nonlinear and cavity effects, providing a more accurate understanding of linewidth limitations.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized, self-contained theoretical framework for calculating semiconductor laser linewidths, incorporating nonlinear gain, refractive index effects, and external feedback.

Findings

Derived a new analytical formula for spontaneous emission dependence on carrier density.

Included effects of gain compression, Kerr effect, and spatial hole burning in the linewidth model.

Applied the theory to a two-section distributed Bragg reflector laser for numerical analysis.

Abstract

More and more applications require semiconductor lasers distinguished not only by large modulation bandwidths or high output powers, but also by small spectral linewidths. The theoretical understanding of the root causes limiting the linewidth is therefore of great practical relevance. In this paper, we derive a general expression for the calculation of the spectral linewidth step by step in a self-contained manner. We build on the linewidth theory developed in the 1980s and 1990s but look from a modern perspective, in the sense that we choose as our starting points the time-dependent coupled-wave equations for the forward and backward propagating fields and an expansion of the fields in terms of the stationary longitudinal modes of the open cavity. As a result, we obtain rather general expressions for the longitudinal excess factor of spontaneous emission ($K$-factor) and the effective $\alpha$-factor including the effects of nonlinear gain (gain compression) and refractive index (Kerr effect), gain dispersion and longitudinal spatial hole burning in multi-section cavity structures. The effect of linewidth narrowing due to feedback from an external cavity often described by the so-called chirp reduction factor is also automatically included. We propose a new analytical formula for the dependence of the spontaneous emission on the carrier density avoiding the use of the population inversion factor. The presented theoretical framework is applied to a numerical study of a two-section distributed Bragg reflector laser.