Stable polarization self-modulation in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.121398· OSTI ID:603115

Li, H; Hohl, A; Gavrielides, A ^[1]; Hou, H; Choquette, K D ^[2]

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1. Air Force Research Laboratory DELO, Nonlinear Optics Group, Phillips Research Site, 3550 Aberdeen Avenue, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico 87117-5776 (United States)
2. Center of Compound Semiconductor Science and Technology, Sandia National Laboratories MS0603, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1603 (United States)

The characteristics of polarization self-modulation in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) were studied for frequencies up to {approx}9 GHz both experimentally and theoretically. Polarization self-modulation was obtained by rotating the linearly polarized output of the VCSEL by 90{degree} and reinjecting it into the laser. Experimentally we simultaneously recorded time traces, optical and radio-frequency spectra. We found for increasing modulation frequencies that the output characteristics changed from square-wave to sinusoidal and the VCSEL system assumed new polarization eigenstates that are different from the free-running VCSEL eigenstates. We modeled polarization self-modulation as an interband process and found a good qualitative agreement between our experimental and numerical results. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 603115
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 72; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
EIGENSTATES
GHZ RANGE 01-100
MODE LOCKING
MODULATION
POLARIZATION
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS