Abstract

Coupled-cavity semiconductor injection lasers (of which the cleaved-coupled-cavity laser of Tsang et al.¹ is probably the most versatile) can be modulated with large amplitude current and still operate stably in a single longitudinal mode. Due to an accompanying modulation of carrier density and thus of the index of refraction in the laser cavity the laser frequency is modulated together with the optical output intensity. This effect has been investigated in detail for a number of standard laser structures (see, e.g., Ref, 2) using scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers with emphasis on the absolute value of the frequency modulation amplitude.

© 1984 Optical Society of America