Emission Characteristics of a 1.5- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="TeX">$\mu$</tex-math></inline-formula>m All-Semiconductor Tapered Master Oscillator Power Amplifier

• Main Authors: M. Vilera, A. Perez-Serrano, J. M. G. Tijero, I. Esquivias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2015-01-01
• Series: IEEE Photonics Journal
• Subjects: High power semiconductor lasers; Master Oscillator Power Amplifier; multimode dynamics
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7038183/

We present experimental results on the emission characteristics of a 1.5-&#x03BC;m distributed feedback (DFB) tapered master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) in a wide range of steady-state injection conditions, showing different dynamical behaviors. A detailed analysis of the optical and radio-frequency spectra has allowed the identification of three different emission regimes: i) stable amplified DFB emission, but with wavelength jumps when sweeping the injection currents; ii) multimode Fabry-Perot (FP) operation of the complete MOPA cavity; and iii) self-pulsed operation at frequencies between 5 and 8 GHz. The quasi-periodic occurrence of these emission regimes as a function of the injected currents is interpreted in terms of a thermally tuned competition between the modes of the master oscillator and the compound cavity modes. The physical origin of the wavelength jumps and of the alternation between regimes is discussed.