A Novel Grating Coupling Coefficient Extraction Method for DFB Laser Diodes Based on Side Mode Spacing

Abstract

A novel method to extract the grating coupling coefficient of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers by comparing the theoretical and experimental values of the side mode spacing is demonstrated. Compared with the traditional method, the proposed method in this paper transforms the solution process of the lasing model with multiple unknown parameters into that with only the side mode spacing and coupling coefficient, which significantly reduces the computational workload. Furthermore, the bias current of the measured spectrum can be much higher than the threshold current, which makes the method less affected by noise. This paper theoretically analyzes the changing relationship between multiple parameters by calculating the lasing mode distribution, and the results show that the side mode spacing is only sensitive to the coupling coefficient. In addition, the grating coupling coefficients (57–61 cm−1) of the fabricated DFB laser diodes are experimentally extracted at 40-80 mA currents. The variation of the coupling coefficient with current is less than 2‰/mA, and the method exhibits pretty good stability. Meanwhile, the grating coupling coefficient extraction method for the complex grating types is also considered in this paper.

Keywords

• Laser theory
• distributed feedback laser
• grating coupling coefficient