Chapter 3

OPTICAL TRANSMITTERS

Fiber-Optic Communications Systems, Third Edition.

Govind P. Agrawal

8/13/2015 1
 CONTENTS

Describe the basic concepts of Emission and Absorption

Processes, p–n Junctions,
Discuss the operation principle of Light-Emitting Diodes
Describe the Power–Current Characteristics
Discuss the details of LED Spectrum, LED Structures.
Do the Lab 3 – Determining the critical parameters of LED

8/13/2015 2
 CONTENTS

Laser Diodes: Optical Gain, Feedback and Laser

Threshold, Laser Structures.
 Control of Longitudinal Modes: Distributed Feedback
Lasers (DFB), Coupled-Cavity Semiconductor Lasers,
Tunable Semiconductor Lasers.

8/13/2015 3
 OPTICAL TRANSMITTER

 The role of the optical transmitter is to convert the

electrical input signal into the optical output one and then
launch it into the optical fiber working as a
communication channel.
The major component of optical transmitters is an
optical source.

8/13/2015 4
 Emission and Absorption Processes

(a) absorption; (b) spontaneous emission c) stimulated emission.

The absorption and emission processes of the two energy states of an atom

- The energy levels E1  the ground state and E2  the excited

state of atoms.
- If hν = Eg = E2 − E1, the photon is absorbed by the atom (carrier),
which ends up in the excited state.

8/13/2015 5
 PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT EMISSION

-The excited carriers eventually return to their normal “ground”

state and emit light in the process.
-Light emission can occur through two fundamental processes
known as spontaneous emission and stimulated emission.
- Light wavelength emitted: where:
h=6.625.10-34 js (Planck Constant)

8/13/2015 c=3.108 m/s (the speed of light)

6
 PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT EMISSION (cont)

Spontaneous emission: photons are emitted in random directions

with no phase relationship among them.(Incoherent light)
Stimulated emission: In contrast, is initiated by an existing photon.
The emitted photon matches the original photon not only in phase but
also in its other characteristics, such as the direction of propagation,
same phase. (Coherent light)

LED Spontaneous emission

LASER Stimulated emission

8/13/2015 7
 FEATURES OF LED AND LASER

LED Laser
1. Spontaneous emission 1. Stimulated emission.
2. The incoherent light 2. The coherent light

3. Double-heterostructure to 3. Double-heterostructure to confine

confine the carriers in resonant the carriers in resonant cavity.
cavity. 4. With 2 reflectors + injected
mechanism to confine and amplify
4. Without reflector
photon for generating coherent
5. Larger spectrum: several nm to light.
tens of nm 5. Narrower spectrum: 0.05 nm to
several nm
8/13/2015 8
 Spectral Width of LED and LASER

8/13/2015 9
 LIGHT SOURCE: P-N JUNCTION

P-N junction generate light:

- Active area.
2 conditions of semiconductor:
- Direct bandgap
- Confinement structure.
Frequency of photon:
= Eg/h=(E2 –E1)/h

Electrons in the conduction band and holes in the valence band can
recombine and emit a photon through spontaneous emission or
stimulated emission.
8/13/2015 10
 Direct and Indirect bandgap

Direct bandgap GaAs (a) Indirect bandgap of Si (b )

8/13/2015 11
 HETEROSTRUCTURE

A heterostructure=junction of two materials with different energy bandgap.

The Double Heterostructure confines electrons and holes to active
layer where light is generated as a result of electron hole
recombination.
Confinement carriers  Increasing light power
8/13/2015 12
 HETEROSTRUCTURE

8/13/2015 13
 HETEROSTRUCTURE

The active layer also has a slightly larger refractive index than that of
the surrounding p-type and n-type cladding layers .
 Larger n1 of active layer  same structure of fiber  Total internal
reflection law  confinement light  Increasing light power

8/13/2015 14
8/13/2015 15
 LED (Light-Emitting Diodes)
Emits light through spontaneous emission, a phenomenon referred
to electroluminescence.
Radiative recombination of electron–hole pairs in the depletion
region generates light; some of it escapes from the device.
The emitted light is incoherent with a relatively wide spectral width
(30–60 nm) and a relatively large angular spread.
LED is used in system with bit rate under 200 Mbps.

Wide spectral width of LED:

8/13/2015 16
 TYPES OF LED

Surface LED EDGE LED

The surface-emitting or edge-emitting, depending on whether the

LED emits light from a surface that is parallel to the junction plane or
from the edge of the junction region.
Both types can be made using a heterostructure design in which the
active region is surrounded by p- and n-type cladding layers.
8/13/2015 17
 Schematic of a Surface-Emitting LED

Surface Light Emitting Diode: SLED

light collected from the one surface, other attached to a
heat sink
easy to couple light with multimode fibers
8/13/2015 18
 Schematic of a Surface-Emitting LED

8/13/2015 19
 Schematic of a Edge-Emitting LED

Edge Light Emitting Diode: ELED

like stripe geometry lasers but no optical reflectors
easy make coupling light with multimode and single mode
fibers
8/13/2015 20
 Schematic of a Edge-Emitting LED

8/13/2015 21
 LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES
Power-Current Characteristics and LED Spectrum

(a) Power–current curves at several temperatures; (b) spectrum of the

emitted light for a typical 1.3-μm LED. The dashed curve shows the
theoretically calculated spectrum.
8/13/2015 22
 LASER DIODE
• LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation.
• Laser light is monochromatic, coherent, and moves in the same
direction.
• A semiconductor Laser is a Laser in which a semiconductor
serves as a photon source.
• The most common semiconductor material that has been used in
lasers is Gallium Arsenide.

8/13/2015 23
Laser Structures

A broad-area semiconductor laser. The active layer is sandwiched between

p-type and n-type cladding layers of a higher-bandgap material

8/13/2015 24
External Conduction Band
electron
Ec
Injectiom

B12 A21 B21

Nonradiative
Stimulated Recombination
photon Stimulated
Spontaneous emssion
Absorption emssion

External hole
Ev Injectiom
Valence Band

8/13/2015
 Population Inversion

At equilibrium, the carriers have the same speed between

the two states. According to Einstein expression, we have:
A21N 2  B21N 2 S  B12 N1S  RP (3.5)
S: photon energy density [J/m3.Hz],
N1 and N2 [1/m3]: densities at E1 and E2 respectively.
B12: stimulated absorption rate coefficient [1/sec],
B21: stimulated emission rate coefficient [1/sec],
A21: spontaneous emission rate coefficient [1/sec].
Rp: External Pump Rate [1/m3.sec]
8/13/2015
 Population Inversion

A21N 2  B21N 2 S  B12 N1S  RP (3.5)

The left side: shows full speed from E2 to E1,

and the right side is full speed from E1 to E2.

8/13/2015
 Population Inversion
Therefore, to increase the light intensity, we must have:
B21N 2  B12 N1 (3.7)
This condition is called the population inversion.
When B21 = B12  N2 > N1
To achieve the population inversion external pumping
speed RP should be > spontaneous emission rate. This
can be represented by altering the expression (3.5) as
follows: RP  A21N 2
S
B21N 2  B12 N1 (3.8)

8/13/2015
 Population Inversion

RP  A21N 2
S
B21N 2  B12 N1

Since S> 0  RP > A21N2 when

B21N 2  B12 N1

8/13/2015
 SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS (SL)

 SLs emit light through stimulated emission; high powers (~10mW),

the coherent light, high coupling efficiency (~50%) into SMF.
 A narrow spectral width (0.05-0.1)nm Rb (~10 Gb/s)
 Most FOCS use SLs
 Optical Gain
– Stimulated emission can dominate only if the condition of
population inversion is satisfied.
– When the injected carrier density in the active layer exceeds a
certain value, known as the transparency value, population
inversion is realized and the active region exhibits optical gain.
8/13/2015 30
 Feedback and Laser Threshold

 The optical gain alone is not enough for laser operation.

Optical feedback is needed—converts an amplifier into an
oscillator  In most lasers Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity formed
by using two mirrors.
 Laser threshold condition: compensates a certain fraction of
photons generated by stimulated emission is lost because of
cavity losses and needs to be replenished on a continuous
basis.

8/13/2015 31
 Feedback and Laser Threshold

 If the optical gain is not large enough to compensate for the

cavity losses, the photon population cannot build up  a
minimum amount of gain is necessary for the operation of a
laser.

 A simple way to obtain the threshold condition is to study

how the amplitude of a plane wave changes during one round
trip.

8/13/2015 32
8/13/2015 33
 SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
 Feedback and Laser Threshold

Structure of a semiconductor laser and the Fabry–Perot cavity

associated with it. The cleaved facets act as partially reflecting mirrors
8/13/2015 34
 Geometry of Laser Cavity

2 Ln
Condition: nL=m/2 m 
m
8/13/2015 35
 SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS

 Gain and loss profiles in semiconductor lasers. Vertical bars

show the location of longitudinal modes.
 The laser threshold is reached when the gain of the longitudinal
mode closest to the gain peak equals loss.
8/13/2015 36
 Fabry-Perot Spectrum

8/13/2015 37
 2 Ln
m 
m

1 1 1 2m
L  m  m1  2 Ln{  }  2 Ln 2 
m m 1 m 2 Ln

8/13/2015 38
 Example

Laser cavity InGaAsP has characteristics: length: 500

m, refractive index: 3.63 and wavelength range
[1540 nm-1560 nm]. Find space between two sequent
longitudinal modes and number of modes that it can
have. Calculate this space in [GHz].

8/13/2015 39
8/13/2015 40
 CONTROL OF LONGITUDINAL MODES

Distributed Feedback (DFB) and Bragg reflector (DBR) laser structures.

The shaded area shows the active region and the wavy line indicates the
presence of a Bragg grating.
8/13/2015 41
8/13/2015 42
8/13/2015 43
 2B  1
  B   m  
2ne Le  2

8/13/2015 44
8/13/2015 45
8/13/2015 46
8/13/2015 47
8/13/2015 48
 Coupled-Cavity Semiconductor Lasers

Coupled-cavity laser structures: (a) external-cavity laser; (b)

cleaved-coupledcavity laser; (c) multisection DBR laser
8/13/2015 49
Tunable Semiconductor Lasers

 Modern WDM lightwave systems require single-mode, narrow-

linewidth lasers whose wavelength remains fixed over time.
DFB lasers satisfy this requirement but their wavelength stability
comes at the expense of tunability.
 Multisection DBR laser: three sections: active, phase-control,
Bragg; independent bias by injecting different amounts of
currents.
 The current injected into the Bragg section: change λB = 2nΛ
through carrier-induced changes in the refractive index n.
 The current injected into the phase-control section: change the
phase of the feedback from the DBR through carrier-induced
index changes in that section. the range of change: 10–15 nm

8/13/2015 50
8/13/2015 51
8/13/2015 52
8/13/2015 53
8/13/2015 54
 Mach-Zehnder LiNbO3 Modulation

Digital Signal V=1 Digital Signal V=0

8/13/2015 55
 End of chapter 3

8/13/2015 56
 2B  1
  B  m  
2ne Le  2

8/13/2015 57
 SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
 Optical Gain

(a) Gain spectrum of a 1.3-μm InGaAsP laser at several carrier densities N.

(b) Variation of peak gain gp with N. The dashed line shows the quality of a
linear fit in the highgain region.
8/13/2015 58