Semiconductor Sources

for
Optical Communications
 Considerations with Optical
Sources
 Physical dimensions to suit the fiber

 Narrow radiation pattern (beam width)

 Emitted wavelength should be suited for Fiber and

Detector (850nm, 1300nm, & 1550nm)

 Linearity (output light power proportional to

driving current)
 Considerations with Optical
Sources
 Ability to be directly modulated by varying driving
current

 Fast response time (wide band)

 Must couple sufficient power into the fiber (>1mW)

 Power Efficiency
 Considerations…

 Narrow spectral width (or line width)

 Stability and efficiency

 Reliability (106 Hrs)

 Semiconductor Light Sources
 A PN junction (that consists of direct band gap
semiconductor materials) acts as the active or
recombination region
 When the PN junction is forward biased, electrons
and holes recombine either radiatively (emitting
photons) or non-radiatively (emitting heat). This is
simple LED operation.
 In an LASER, the photon is further processed in a
resonance cavity to achieve a coherent, highly
directional optical beam with narrow linewidth
 Light Emission

 Basic LED operation: When an electron

jumps from a higher energy state (Ec) to a
lower energy state (Ev) the difference in
energy Ec- Ev is released either
 as a photon of energy E = hν (radiative
recombination)
 The Light Emitting Diode (LED)

 For fiber-optics, the LED should have a

high radiance (light intensity), fast response
time and a high quantum efficiency
 Double or single hetero-structure devices
 Surface emitting (diffused radiation) Vs
Edge emitting (more directional) LED’s
 Emitted wavelength depends on bandgap
energy
E g = hν = hc / λ
Surface-emitting LED
Edge-emitting LED
 LED Spectral Width

40nm

75nm

Edge emitting LED’s have slightly narrow line width

 RADIATION PATTERN

Radiation Pattern of (a) Surface emitting LED,

(b) Edge emitting LED
 ELED vs SLED

• ELED couple more optical power into a low

NA (<0.3) than SLED
• Opposite is true for large NA (>0.3)
 External Efficiency
n2

n1
Light
emission
cone

Fresnel Transmission Coefficient

T (0) = 4n1n 2 2
( n1 + n2 )
RADIATED OPTICAL POWER VS BIAS CURRENT
3-dB bandwidths
 Drawbacks of LED
 Large line width (30-40 nm)
 Large beam width (Low coupling to the fiber)
 Low output power
 Low E/O conversion efficiency
Advantages
 Simpler Fabrication
 Reliability
 Less Temperature Dependency
 Linearity
 The LASER

 Light Amplification by ‘Stimulated Emission’

and Radiation (L A S E R)
 Coherent light (stimulated emission)
 Narrow beam width (very focused beam)
 High output power (amplification)
 Narrow line width because only few
wavelength will experience a positive
feedback and get amplified (optical filtering)
 Fundamental Lasing Operation

 Absorption: An atom in the ground state might

absorb a photon emitted by another atom, thus
making a transition to an excited state.
 Spontaneous Emission: random emission of a
photon, which enables the atom to relax to the
ground state.
 Stimulated Emission: An atom in an excited state
might be stimulated to emit a photon by another
incident photon.
 In Stimulated Emission incident
and stimulated photons will have

 Identical energy  Identical wavelength

 Narrow linewidth
 Identical direction  Narrow beam width
 Identical phase  Coherence and
 Identical polarization
Fabry-Perot Laser
(resonator) cavity
 Distributed Feedback Laser
(Single Mode Laser)

The optical feedback is provided by fiber Bragg Gratings

 Only one wavelength get positive feedback
Multimode Laser Output
Spectrum (Center Wavelength)

Mode
Separation g(λ)

Longitudinal
Modes
Optical output vs. drive current of a laser

Threshold Current
Laser threshold depends on
Temperature
Temperature dependency of
the laser is another issue
Selecting the Optical Source

LED
LASER
 LED and LD

Laser action
Laser action
With stimulated

Light Intensity
With stimulated
emission
emission

Spontaneous
Spontaneous emission
emission Threshold current

Forward bias current Wavelength

(a) (b)
 Typical Characteristics of Light Source

Property LED Laser Diode Single Mode

Laser
Spectral Width 20-100 1-5 0.2
(nm)
Rise Time (nS) 2-250 0.1-1 0.1-1

Modulation <300 <2000 ~2000

Bandwidth MHz)
Coupling Very Low Moderate Moderate
Efficiency
Compatible Fiber MM (SI, GI) MM, GI, SM Single Mode
 Typical Characteristics of Light Source (Cont….)

Property LED Laser Diode Single Mode

Laser
Temperature Low High High
Sensitivity
Circuit Complexity Simple Complex Complex

Life Time (Hours) 105 104 - 105 104 - 105

Path Length Moderate Long Very Long

Data Rate Moderate High Very High

 Typical bit rates at different wavelengths

Wavelength LED Systems LASER Systems.

800-900 nm (Typically 150 Mb/s.km 2500 Mb/s.km

Multimode Fiber)

1300 nm (Lowest 1500 Mb/s.km 25 Gb/s.km

dispersion) (InGaAsP Laser)

1550 nm (Lowest 1200 Mb/s.km Up to 500 Gb/s.km

Attenuation)