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Chapter 3


OPTICAL TRANSMITTERS

Fiber-Optic Communications Systems, Third Edition.
Govind P. Agrawal

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Describe the basic concepts of Emission and Absorption
Processes, pn Junctions,
Discuss the operation principle of Light-Emitting Diodes
Describe the PowerCurrent Characteristics
Discuss the details of LED Spectrum, LED Structures.
Do the Lab 3 Determining the critical parameters of LED
CONTENTS
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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.
CONTENTS
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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 ber working as a
communication channel.
The major component of optical transmitters is an
optical source.
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Emission and Absorption Processes
(a) absorption; (b) spontaneous emission c) stimulated emission.
- The energy levels E
1
the ground state and E
2
the excited
state of atoms.
- If h = Eg = E
2
E
1
, the photon is absorbed by the atom, which
ends up in the excited state.
The absorption and emission processes of the two energy states of an atom
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-The excited atoms 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:
PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT EMISSION
where:

h=6.625.10
-34
js (Planck Constant)

c=3.10
8
m/s (the speed of light)
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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)

Spontaneous emission
Stimulated emission
LED
LASER
PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT EMISSION (cont)
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FEATURES OF LED AND LASER
LED
1. Spontaneous emission
2. The incoherent light
3. Double-heterostructure to
confine the carriers in resonant
cavity.
4. Without reflector
5. Larger spectrum: several nm to
tens of nm
Laser
1. Stimulated emission.
2. The coherent light
3. Double-heterostructure to confine
the carriers in resonant cavity.
4. With 2 reflectors + injected
mechanism to confine and amplify
photon for generating coherent
light.
5. Narrower spectrum: 0.05 nm to
several nm
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Spectral Width of LED and LASER
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LIGHT SOURCE: P-N JUNCTION
Electrons in the conduction band and holes in the valence band can
recombine and emit a photon through spontaneous emission or
stimulated emission.
P-N junction generate light:
- Active area.
2 conditions of semiconductor:
- Direct bandgap
- Confinement structure.
Frequency of photon:
v= E
g
/h=(E
2
E
1
)/h


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Direct and Indirect bandgap
Direct bandgap GaAs (a) Indirect bandgap of Si (b )
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The Double Heterostructure connes electrons and holes to active
layer where light is generated as a result of electron hole
recombination.
Confinement carriers Increasing light power
A heterostructure=junction of two materials with different energy bandgap.
HETEROSTRUCTURE
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HETEROSTRUCTURE
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The active layer also has a slightly larger refractive index than that of
the surrounding p-type and n-type cladding layers .
Larger n
1
of active layer same structure of fiber Total internal
reflection law confinement light Increasing light power

HETEROSTRUCTURE
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LED (Light-Emitting Diodes)
Wide spectral width of LED:
Emits light through spontaneous emission, a phenomenon referred
to electroluminescence.
Radiative recombination of electronhole 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
(3060 nm) and a relatively large angular spread.
LED is used in system with bit rate under 200 Mbps.

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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.
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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
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Schematic of a Surface-Emitting LED
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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
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Schematic of a Edge-Emitting LED
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LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES
(a) Powercurrent curves at several temperatures; (b) spectrum of the
emitted light for a typical 1.3-m LED. The dashed curve shows the
theoretically calculated spectrum.
Power-Current Characteristics and LED Spectrum
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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.


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A broad-area semiconductor laser. The active layer is sandwiched between
p-type and n-type cladding layers of a higher-bandgap material
Laser Structures
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Nonradiative
Recombination
Spontaneous
emssion
Stimulated
emssion

Stimulated
photon
Absorption
Conduction Band
Valence Band
E
c

E
v

External
electron
Injectiom
External hole
Injectiom

B
21
B
12
A
21
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Population Inverse
At equilibrium, the carriers have the same speed
between the two states. According to Einstein
expression, we have:
(3.5)
S: photon energy density [J/m
3
.Hz],
N
1
and N
2
[1/m
3
]: densities at E
1
and E
2


respectively.
B
12
: stimulated absorption rate coefficient [1/sec],
B
21
: stimulated emission rate coefficient [1/sec],
A
21
: spontaneous emission rate coefficient [1/sec].
Rp: External Pump Rate [1/m
3
.sec]
P
R S N B S N B N A + = +
1 12 2 21 2 21
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(3.5)

The left side of the equation (3.5) show full speed from
E
2
to E
1
, and the right side is full speed from E
1
to E
2
.


P
R S N B S N B N A + = +
1 12 2 21 2 21
Population Inverse
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Therefore, to increase the light intensity, we must have:
(3.7)
This condition is called the population inversion.
When B
21
= B
12
N
2
> N
1
To achieve the population inversion external pumping
speed R
P
should be > spontaneous emission rate. This
can be represented by altering the expression (3.5) as
follows:
(3.8)
1 12 2 21
N B N B >
1 12 2 21
2 21
N B N B
N A R
S
P

=
Population Inverse
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Since S> 0 R
P
> A
21
N
2
when

1 12 2 21
2 21
N B N B
N A R
S
P

=
1 12 2 21
N B N B >
Population Inverse
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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.
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Optical Gain









(a) Gain spectrum of a 1.3-m 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.
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
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The optical gain alone is not enough for laser operation.
Optical feedback is neededconverts an amplifier into an
oscillator In most lasers FabryPerot (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.
Feedback and Laser Threshold
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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.
Feedback and Laser Threshold
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Feedback and Laser Threshold








Structure of a semiconductor laser and the FabryPerot cavity
associated with it. The cleaved facets act as partially reflecting mirrors
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
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Condition: nL=m/2
Geometry of Laser Cavity
m
Ln
m
2
=
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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.
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
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Fabry-Perot Spectrum
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m
Ln
m
2
=

Ln m
Ln
m
Ln
m
m m L
2
1
2 }
1
1
m
1
{ 2
2
2
1

= ~
+
= = A
+
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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].
Example
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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.
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Coupled-cavity laser structures: (a) external-cavity laser; (b)
cleaved-coupledcavity laser; (c) multisection DBR laser
Coupled-Cavity Semiconductor Lasers
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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
B
= 2n
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: 1015 nm
Tunable Semiconductor Lasers
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