Intensity Noise Performance of Semiconductor Lasers
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Intensity Noise Performance of Semiconductor Lasers
- Author:
Dr. Tobias Gensty, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Elsässer
The aim of the test procedure was to study the current noise performance of the novel ILX Lightwave current source LDX-3232. It is a high compliance voltage (> 15 V) current source with a maximum output current of 4000 mA. Therefore, LDX-3232 is capable of driving quantum cascade lasers (QCL) [1]. Typical injection currents and bias voltages to operate QCL in continuous wave operation are in the range of 1001500 mA and 615 V, respectively. In order to analyze the noise characteristics of LDX-3232, we performed three dierent measurements. First, we measured the intensity noise of the emitted optical power of a QCL biasing the laser by the LDX-3232 and a self-made low-noise battery current source. Second, we repeated the measurements with a standard telecommunication laser device using four different current sources: LDX-3232, the battery, LDX-3620, and LDC-3744B. Third, we analyzed the current noise of the four current sources directly by detecting the voltage uctuations across a 10 Ω resistor.
