Relative Intensity Noise of Distributed Feedback Lasers
Relative intensity noise (RIN) describes fluctuations in the optical power of a laser, which, in the case of our Distributed Feedback Lasers (DFB), mainly stem from intrinsic optical phase and frequency fluctuations caused by spontaneous emission. However, the measured RIN value depends strongly on the current noise and the quality of the measurement setup, both of which differ from lab to lab. This application note aims to provide you with our measurement method and the theoretical background that underlies our analysis in order to clarify the way we determine RIN. Since the determination of RIN is relatively sophisticated and time consuming, we carry out this measurement only on DFB samples. If you would like a RIN measurement of your DFB before shipment, please let us know ahead of time.
