Optical Sources

Optical Communication System

Introduction

Optical source is considered to be active component The function is to convert the electrical energy in the form of a current into optical energy (light) The principal light sources used for fiber optic communications:

Incandescent lamps wideband continuous spectra Laser diodes (ILDs) monochromatic coherent Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) monochromatic coherent

They have adequate output power for a wide range of applications

Introduction

An optical fiber emitter should have this requirements:

The light output should be directional The source should be linear Should emit light at wavelengths where the fiber has low losses and low dispersion and where the detectors are efficient Simple signal modulation over a wide bandwidth extending from audio frequencies to beyond the gigahertz range Should have a very narrow spectral bandwidth in order to minimize the dispersion in the fiber Must be capable of maintaining a stable optical output which is largely unaffected by changes in ambient conditions Cheap and highly reliable in order to compete with conventional transmission techniques

Introduction

LED was not suitable for long-distance wideband transmission But, the role of LED as a source was enhanced following the development of multimode graded-index fiber Light is usually emitted from the LED in many spatial modes, cannot be focused and coupled into single-mode fiber LED is chosen for many applications using multimode fibers and the ILD tends to be used as a single-mode device in single-mode fiber systems

Introduction

LED and laser have different light-generating mechanism Laser is a device which amplifies light LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation However, lasers are seldom used as amplifiers since there are practical difficulties in relation to the achievement of high gain while avoiding oscillation from the required energy feedback LED provides optical emission without an inherent gain mechanism that yields incoherent light output

Basic Concepts

Under normal conditions, all materials absorb light rather than emit it

Basic Concepts

Light emission can occur through two fundamental processes:

Spontaneous emission Stimulated emission

All lasers emit light through the process of stimulated emission and said to emit coherent light LEDs emit light through the incoherent process of spontaneous emission The ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate is

Example 1

Calculate the ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate for an incandescent lamp operating at a temperature of 1000 K. It may be assumed that the average operating wavelength is 0.5 m

Solution

The average operating frequency is given by

The ratio is

Basic Concepts

What can we infer from Example 1?

For systems in thermal equilibrium, spontaneous emission is dominant It illustartes that the radiation emitted from ordinary optical sources is random, or can be said incoherent To produce a coherent optical source and amplification, the stimulated emission must be increased far above the level How?

Population Inversion
Stimulated absorption

Optical Feedback and Laser Oscillation

Light amplification in the laser occurs when a photon colliding with an atom in the excited energy state causes the stimulated emission of a second photon and then both these photon release two more When the waves associated with these photons are in phase, amplified coherent emission is obtained It is necessary to contain photons within the laser medium and maintain the conditions for coherence by placing or forming mirrors at either end of the amplifying medium

Optical Feedback and Laser Oscillation

The optical cavity is analogous to an oscillator than an amplifier The optical signal is fed back many times while receiving amplification as it passes through the medium The strcuture acts as a Fabry-Perot resonator When optical spacing L, the resonance condition along the axis of the cavity is

Optical Feedback and Laser Oscillation

The discrete emission frequencies are defined by

The frequencies are known as the longitudinal or axial modes and separated by

The mode separation in terms of the free space wavelength, assuming OR

Example 2

A ruby laser contains a crystal of length 4 cm with a refractive index of 1.78. The peak emission wavelength from the device is 0.55 m. Determine the number of longitudinal modes and their frequency separation

Solution

The number of longitudinal modes

The frequency separation

Optical Feedback and Laser Oscillation

Although there are a large number of modes generated within the laser cavity, only several modes are shown to be present in the laser output

Threshold Condition

Steady-state conditions for laser oscillation are achieved when the gain in the amplifying medium exactly balances the total losses The population inversion itself is not sufficient for lasing to occur It needs a minimum or threshold gain within the amplifying medium such that laser oscillations are initiated and sustained

Threshold Condition

The fractional loss incurred by the light beam is

where is single loss coefficient per unit length, are reflectivities of mirrors The fractional round trip gain is given by

r1

and r2

where g is gain coefficient per unit length produced by stimulated emission

Threshold Condition

Hence And The threshold gain per unit length

Example 3

An injection laser has an active cavity with losses of 30 cm-1 and the reflectivity of the each cleaved laser facet is 30%. Determine the laser gain coefficient for the cavity when it has a length of 600 m

Solution

The threshold gain per unit length is

LED Introduction

LEDs have several drawbacks in comparison with injection lasers:

Lower optical power coupled into a fiber Lower modulation bandwidth Harmonic distortion Simpler fabrication Cost Reliability Generally less temperature dependence Simpler drive circuitry Linearity

Advantages:

LED Power and Efficiency

The power generated by an LED may be determined by consideration of the excess electrons and holes in the pand n- type material The excess minority carrier density decays exponentially with time t according to the relation where n(0) is the initial injected excess electron density and represents the total carrier recombination lifetime

LED Power and Efficiency

A rate equation for carrier recombination in the LED can be expressed in the form

where J is the current density, e is the charge on an electron, and d is the thickness of the recombination region The condition for equilibrium

LED Power and Efficiency

The recombination rate is

where rr is the radiative recombination rate per unit volume and rnr is the nonradiative recombination rate per unit volume The total number of recombinations per second is

where i is the forward-biased current into the device

LED Power and Efficiency

The LED internal quantum efficiency is given by

where Rr is the total number of radiative recombinations per second The optical power generated internally by the LED is OR

LED Power and Efficiency

Internal quantum efficiency is

where r n rr is the radiative minority carrier lifetime and nr n rnr is the nonradiative minority carrier lifetime The total recombination lifetime can be written as

Hence, the internal quantum efficiency can be written

Example 4

The radiative and nonradiative recombination lifetimes of the minority carriers in the active region of a doubleheterojunction LED are 60 ns and 100 ns respectively. Determine the total carrier recombination lifetime and the power internally generated within the device when the peak emission wavelength is 0.87 m at a drive current of 40 mA.

Solution

The total carrier recombination lifetime is

Internal quantum efficiency of the device

The optical power generated internally

LED Power and Efficiency

The external power efficiency is defined as the ratio of the optical power emitted externally Pe to the electric power provided to the device

where

F is the transmission factor of the semiconductorexternal interface

Example 5

A planar LED is fabricated from gallium arsenide which has a refractive index of 3.6

Calculate the optical power emitted into air as a percentage of the internal optical power for the device when the transmission factor at the crystal-air interface is 0.68 When the optical power generated internally is 50% of the electric power supplied, determine the external power efficiency

Solution

The optical power is

The external power efficiency is