Transverse mode competition effects on the dynamics of gain-switched vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Ángel Valle (1) , Mikel Arizaleta Arteaga (2) , Hugo Thienpont (3) , Krassimir Panajotov (3, 4) , Marc Sciamanna (5)

1 IFCA - Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria
2 Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering
3 TONA - Department of Applied Physics and Photonics [Brussels]
4 ISSP - Institut of the Solid State Physics
5 LMOPS - Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Systèmes

An experimental analysis of the nonlinear dynamics of a multi-transverse-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) when subject to a high-frequency current modulation is performed. Regular periodic dynamics—with periods equal to the modulation period or twice the modulation period—and irregular pulsating dynamics are obtained. Our results show that the irregular pulsating dynamics in multimode VCSELs subject to large-signal current modulation is due to the competition between different transverse modes.

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Optics / Photonic

Ángel Valle, Mikel Arizaleta Arteaga, Hugo Thienpont, Krassimir Panajotov, Marc Sciamanna. Transverse mode competition effects on the dynamics of gain-switched vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Applied Physics Letters, 2008, 93 (13), pp.131103-1-3. ⟨10.1063/1.2992630⟩. ⟨hal-00350991⟩