EC EC8751- OPTICAL

6702 – OPTICAL
EC8751 COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKS
UNIT III
FIBER OPTICSOURCES
OPTICAL SOURCES AND
AND COUPLING
DETECTORS

Syllabus:
Direct and indirect Band gap materials-LED structures -Light source materials -
Sources: Intrinsic and extrinsic material-direct and indirect band gaps-LED-LED structures-surface
Quantum efficiency and LED power, Modulation of a LED, lasers Diodes-Modes and
emitting LED-Edge emitting LED-quantum efficiency and LED power-light source
Threshold condition -Rate equations -External Quantum efficiency -Resonant frequencies -
materials-modulation of LED-LASER diodes-modes and threshold conditions-Rate equations-external
Laser Diodes, Temperaturefrequencies-structures
quantum efficiency-resonant effects, Introductionand
to radiation
Quantumpatterns-single
laser, Fiber mode
amplifiers- Power
laser-external
Launching and coupling,
modulation-temperature Lencing
effort. schemes,
Detectors: Fiber
PIN photo -to- Fiber joints,photo
detector-Avalanche Fiber splicing-Signal
diodes-Photo to
detector
Noise ratio sources-SNR-detector
noise-noise , Detector response time.
response time-Avalanche multiplication noise-temperature
effects-comparisons of photo detectors.

LIGHT SOURCE:

 The light sources are used to convert electrical into optical signal i.e Light Wave.
 There are many light sources but LED -Light Emitting Diode and Laser Diode are
mostly used as light sources in optical communication.

LED

SLED ELED SLD

Laser Diode

Single Mode Laser diode Multi Mode Laser diode

DFB DBR Vertical cavity Index guide Gain guide

Laser

INDIRECT BAND GAP MATERIAL:

Examples – Si Ge
 If the minimum conduction band energy level occur at momentum vector (k1) and
maximum energy level of valence band occur at momentum (k2), then the electron
transition will not take place directly from conduction band to valence band.
 Then Phonon (crystal lattice vibration) is needed to conserve the momentum and
electron – hole recombination takes place indirectly.
 In such indirect band gap material the recombination charge carrier life time is large
but has less quantum efficiency.
 It is used to fabricate regulator switches , rectifier diodes and transistors for
amplifiers.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

DIRECT BAND GAP MATERIAL:

Examples- GaAlAs&InGaAsP
 The electrons and holes have same momentum vector value. So, electron – hole
recombination takes place directly.
 The quantum efficiency is high but recombination charge carrier life is low.

CHOICE OF LIGHT SOURCE MATERIAL

The light sources are fabricated only using direct band gap materials. The direct band
gap materials are formed from III-IV group elements. Ga, Al, In are III group elements and
Al, As, P, Sb are V group elements. By combining III and IV group elements, we can
fabricate direct band gap materials.
For example, 800-900nm operation, the principal material used is the ternary alloy
Ga1-X AlX As. The ratio x of aluminum arsenide to gallium arsenic determines the band gap
of the alloy and wavelength of the peak radiation.
The energy gap in electron volts for values of x between zero and 0.37 (the direct
band gap region) can be found from the empirical equation.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 Eg=1.424+1.266x+0.266x2 eV

For longer wavelength 1.0 and 1.7 m , the quaternary alloy In1-x Gax Asy P1-y is one
of primary material. By varying mole fraction x and y, the energy band gap and wavelength
can be varied. So, the choice of material decides the range of operating wavelength. But mole
fraction x and y decides the peak wavelength.
E g  1.35  0.72 y  0.12 y 2 eV
The fundamental quantum-mechanical relationship between energy E and frequency
hc
V is E  hV 


EXAMPLE 1

Find the emission wavelength for Ga1-xAlxAs where x=0.08

SOLUTION

x  0.08

E g  1.424  1.266 x  0.266 x 2 eV

E g  1.424  1.2660.08  0.2660.08 eV

2

E g  1.53eV

hc

E g eV 

3  10 8 m / s  6.625  10 34 J / s

1.53  1.602  10 19 J

  0.81m

EXAMPLE 2

Consider the alloy In0.74Ga0.26As0.57P0.43 (i.e x=0.26 and y=0.57). Find the emission
wavelength.

SOLUTION

E g  1.35  0.72 y  0.12 y 2 eV

E g  1.35  0.720.57   0.120.57  eV

2

E g  0.97eV

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 hc

E g eV 

3  10 8 m / s  6.625  10 34 J / s

0.97  1.602  10 19 J

  1.27 m

LED STRUCTURE :

 If a junction is formed between two alloys with same energy bandgap it is called
homojunction.
 If a junction is formed between two alloys with different energy bandgap then it is
known as heterojunction. LED uses double hetero structure (DH).
 Advantage of DH is to have high quantum efficiency and large brightness (high
radiance)
To achieve carrier confinement , the energy band gap of active layer is maintained
to be less than that of the confinement layer.
 To achieve optical confinement , the refractive index of active layer is greater than
that of confinement layer.
 By achieving dual confinement ( optical& carrier)), the two advantages are:
High radiance (brightness)
High quantum efficiency
 Light emitting diode uses double hetero structure (DH) layers, the central layer is
made of n-type ternary Ga 1-yAl yAs alloy.
 It is also called active layer which is around typically 0.3µm thickness.
 There are two adjacent layers, one side n-type ternary Ga 1-x Al x As alloy which
contains excess electrons and other side p-type ternary Ga 1-x Al x As alloy which
contains excess holes.

Metal n-type n-type n-type p-type p-type Metal

(a)
contact GaAs Ga1-xA1x As Ga1-xA1x As Ga1-xA1x As Ga1-xA1x As contact
substrate Light guiding Recombination Light guiding Metal contact
and carrier region and carrier improvement
confinement confinement layer
~1µm ~0.3µm ~1µm ~1µm

(b)

Inje cte d Ele ctron

e lectrons
- barri er

Ele ctron Electron-hole

e ne rgy 1.51eV re combi nati on
hv = 820nm
+ Inje cte d
Hole hole s
barri er
(c) Acti ve
re gi on
Re fracti ve i nde x

1 2 3 4 5

Wave gui de re gi on

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  When this structure is forward biased, excess holes and excess electrons from
adjacent layers get injected into active layer in which electron-hole recombination
takes place and a photon of energy h is released. Thus the active layer is called
recombination region.
 The energy band gap of active layer is maintained to be less than that of adjacent
layers since the injected carries are confined in the active layers and electron-hole
recombination takes place only in the active layer. This is called carrier
confinement.
 Since the refractive index of active layer (n1) is greater than that of adjacent layers
(n2), the light (photon are confined only in the active layer). This light (photons) never
enter into adjacent layers (like core-cladding layers). This is called optical
confinement.

SURFACE EMITTER (BURRUS OR FRONT EMITTER):

 Surface emitting LED uses double hetero structure layers.

 A circular well is etched through the substrate of the device.
 A multimode fiber is placed in the etched well and then is cemented in order to accept
the emitter light in the active region.
 The circular active area is normally 50µm in diameter and 2.5µm thickness.
 The plane of active region is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the fiber.
 The emission pattern is isotropic with a 120° half power beam width.

 The isotropic pattern from SLED is called lambertian pattern since when viewed from
any direction ,SLED is equally bright but power diminishes as cos ,where is the
angle between the viewing direction and the normal to the surface of SLED.

EDGE EMITTERS:

 Edge Emitting LED (ELED) consists of active layer (which is the source the
incoherent light) and two guiding layers.
 The refractive index of guiding layer is less than that of active layer to form a wave
guide channel to direct the optical radiation towards the optical fiber core .

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  To match the fiber core diameters (50-100 µm), the metal contact stripes for edge
emitters are (50-70)µm wide.

 Length of active region ranges from 100 to 150 µm. The emission pattern of ELED is
more directional .
 Here, the output beam is lambertian in the plane of the PN junction = and
highly directional to the PN junction( = ).

QUANTUM EFFICIENCY OF LED:

 If photon energy is released, when electron- hole recombination takes place it is called
radiative recombination.
 The number of radiative recombination process per second is called radiative
recombination rate
 If the photon energy is not released or radiated during electron hole recombination,it
is called as non radiative recombination process.
 The number of non radiative recombination process per second is called as non-
radiative recombination rate.
 Internal quantum efficiency is defined as ratio of radiative recombination rate to the
total recombination rate.
 The total recombination rate is the sum of radiative recombination rate and non
radiative recombination rate given by

Internal quantum efficiency

Rr
 int 
Rr  Rnr
Radiative recombination life is given by

where n = excess carriers

The non radiative recombination life time is given by

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Combining the above equations we have

Bulk recombination life time:

Substituting this in the previous equation

Total recombination rate is

I
Rr  Rnr 
e

where e is the electron charge and I is the current injected into LED.

Thus we get,

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Internally generated power,

Pint  Rr (h )

 All internally generated photons does not exit the device. To find the emitted power,
consider  ext which is defined as the ratio of photons emitted from LED to the number
of internally generated photons.

EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY:

The external quantum efficiency is defined as

Where n=index of LED material.

Power emitted from LED,

MODULATION OF LED:

 The modulation of LED can be defined as either electrical or optical bandwidth .

 The following three factors determine the response time (modulation bandwidth).
1.Doping level in the recombination region.
2.Injected carrier life .
3.Parasitic capacitance of LED.
 If the drive current is modulated at a frequency ‘v’,the optical output will vary as

P(v)=P0[1+(v )2]-1/2

Where, P0 is the power emitted at zero modulation frequency.

 The parasitic capacitance can cause a delay of the carrier injection into the
recombination region.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  But this delay is negligible.So,the modulation response time is limited only with a
carrier recombination life time.
 The optical source exhibits relationship between light power and the current.
p(v) = the ratio of output electric power at the frequency v to the power at zero
modulation is
Ratio electrical = 10 log

Ratio electrical =10 log

Where is the electrical current in the driven circuitry.The electrical 3db point
occurs at the frequency where the electrical power this happens when

(Or)

The optical bandwidth is the ratio of the optical output power to the optical input
power.It can be expressed in decibel as
Ratiooptical = 10 log10

Ratiooptical= 10 log10
Hence the optical 3 dB point occurs when the ratio of the current equal to ½ and
.

INJECTION LASER DIODE (BASIC WORKING PRINCIPLE OF LASER)

 Mirrors are used to provide optical feedback.

 The two mirrors are used to reflect light rays generated in the active region back and
forth to increase optical gain (or) light gain (or) light intensity. This is called optical
feedback.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

PHOTON ABSORPTION

When a photon energy greater than or equal to energy band gap, the photon is
absorbed in the active layer depending on the lifetime of photon. This process is called
photon absorption.

SPONTANEOUS EMISSION

When electron transition takes place from higher energy level to lower energy level, electron-
hole recombination takes place. The energy difference E2 – E1 is dissipated in the form of
photon energy h . The released photons in the active layer are radiated in different direction
in the active layer. This is called incoherent radiation.

STIMULATED EMISSION

To bring it back to equilibrium state, the electrons from higher energy level moves to
lower energy level emitting photon which is called as stimulated photon. Both stimulating
photon and stimulated photon are in the same direction. Again these two photons interact
with electrons to produce four photons and so on. These photons are coherent. Thus the
photons get multiplied within the active region, and bundle of photons are produced. The

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

bundle of photons together form lasing spark / laser beam. The light travelling back and forth
will be emitted from laser(mirror) after reaching threshold optical gain.

INJECTION LASER DIODE STRUCTURE

 Injection laser diode uses double hetero structure (DH) layers, the central layer is
made of n-type ternary Ga 1-y Al y As alloy.

 The central layer is also called active layer which is around typically 0.3µm
thickness.
 There are two adjacent layers, one side n-type ternary Ga 1-x Al x As alloy which
contains excess electrons and other side p-type ternary Ga 1-x Al x As alloy which
contains excess holes.
 When this structure is forward biased, excess holes and excess electrons from
adjacent layers get injected into active layer in which electron-hole recombination
takes place and a photon of energy h is released. Thus the active layer is called
recombination region.
 The energy band gap of active layer is maintained to be less than that of adjacent
layers since the injected carries are confined in the active layers and electron-hole
recombination takes place only in the active layer. This is called carrier
confinement.
 Since the refractive index of active layer (n1) is greater than that of adjacent layers
(n2), the light (photons are confined only in the active layer).
 This light (photons) never enter into adjacent layers (like core-cladding layers). This
is called optical confinement.
 By achieving dual confinement (optical& carrier), the two advantages are:
1. High radiance (brightness)
2. High quantum efficiency

FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR CAVITY:

 Lasers are oscillators operating at optical frequency.

 Fabry-Perot resonator cavity is approximately 250-500 µm long, 5-15 µm wide and
0.1-0.2 m thick.
 These dimensions are referred as longitudinal, lateral and transverse dimensions of the
cavity.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

LASER MODES:

i) Longitudinal modes are related to length ‘L’ of the cavity. It determines the structure
of frequency of the emitted optical radiation.
ii) Lateral modes are related to width of the cavity. It determines the shape of lateral
profile of laser beam.
iii) Transverse modes are related to thickness of the cavity. It determines laser
characteristics such as the radiation pattern and the threshold current density.
 Two flat mirrors, one fully reflecting and other partially reflecting are placed inside
Fabry-Perot resonator cavity to increase the optical gain. As the light reflects back and
forth within the Fabry-Perot cavity, it takes successive round trips.
 The distance of separation between two plates is ‘L’ and therefore one successive
round trip Z = 2L

LASING CONDITION:

Lasing is the condition at which Light Amplification becomes possible. For that
population inversion should occur,i.e
No.of electrons in conduction band >No.of electrons in valence band

As distance ‘z’ increases, radiation intensity I(z) decreases exponentially as shown in the
above graph.

I(z)=I(0)

Where,

I(z) = optical field intensity

z = direction of propagation (distance)
spontaneous emission contribution factor

Substituting z=2L we get

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

I(2L)=I(0)

Total absorption loss =

Where,

cavity absorption co-efficient.

mirror loss in lasing cavity.

The Lasing conditions are,

1. I(2L) = I(0)
2.
 When optical gain (g) overcomes total absorption loss, it is called threshold gain gth.
 When g >gth, laser beam will comes out from the laser cavity structure. This is the
condition for lasing.

Hence

When drive current is greater than threshold current , only stimulated emission
takes place in laser diode.

Relationship between optical output power and laser diode drive current is

The threshold current density is given by

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Resonant frequency and Modes in Laser diode

To Calculate no. of modes in a laser cavity:

The lasing condition will get satisfied only if 2 ,where m is

an integer.

But propagation constant

Where, ‘m’ is the no.of modes in a laser cavity.

As length increases, no.of modes also increases.

To determine frequency spacing :

Consider two successive modes of frequencies & represented by integer m-1

and m.

For and mode,

The mode equations are

for mth mode

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 for (m-1)th mode

Substituting we get,

As length increases ,frequency spacing between successive modes decreases.

To determine wavelength spacing

 c
  .
v 2nL


   .
2nL

2
Wavelength spacing  
2nL

Laser diode rate equation:

 The relationship between optical output power and the diode drive current can be
determined by examining the rate equations that govern the interaction of photons and
electrons in the active region.
 Laser rate equations give the transient response and steady state response of a laser
diode using laser rate equations steady state photon density can be calculated.
 Photon rate equation is given by

---------------(1)

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  Rate of photon density charge = stimulated emission rate + spontaneous emission rate
+ photon loss

= photondensity/photon lifetime (Photon absorbtion depends on photon

lifetime)

n-electron density
p-photon density
C-describes the coefficient which represents photon absorption nd electron interaction.

Eqn (1) is called as photon rate equation.It says that photon density in the active layer is
increasing due to stimulated emission and spontaneous emission. Photon density is
decreasing due to photon absorbtion in the active layer.

Electron rate equation is given by

dn J n
   Cnp ---------------(2)
dt qd  sp

Rate of charge of electron density =(injection current)-(loss due to spontaneous

emission)-(stimulated emission)

Where,

q-electron charge

d – thickness of laser cavity

The electron rate equation shows that the rate of change of electron density in active
layer depends on injection current, spontaneous emission and stimulated emission.

At steady state condition,

Substituting in eqn (1)

At steady state condition is negligible.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 Cn = 1/ , n = 1/C

At steady state ,n = (threshold electron density)

= 1/C ------------------------(3)

eqn (3) gives threshold electron density and threshold current

From eqn(2)

At , threshold current density J =

[Cnp=0]

----------------(4)

To calculate steady state photon density , substitute in eqn (1) and (2)

Replace p = and n =

-----------------------(5)

From eqn(2)

------------------------------(6)

Add eqn (5) and (6)

replace using eqn (4)

+ (J- )

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 + (J- )

 ph
Ps   ph Rsp  ( J  J th ) --------------------------(7)
qd

Steady state photon density = stimulated photon + spontaneously generated photon

ADVANTAGES OF ILD OVER LED:

S.no ILD LED

1 Coherent radiation takes place In LED, incoherent radiation takes
place.
2 Output power will be high (5 mw) Output power is low (0.5 mw)
3 Narrow spectral width Wider spectral width
4 Coupling efficiency is high Coupling efficiency is low
5 High cost (10 times greater than LED) Low cost
6 It has more directional radiation pattern Radiation pattern is less directional
7 It can be used at higher bit rates Used at lower bit rates
8 It is used in system that operates over long It is used in short distant
distances and emits monochromatic light communication.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. High cost.
2. ILD's are more temperature dependent than LED's.
3. As ILD's operates at high power, they typically have smaller life time.

TYPES OF INJECTION LASER STRUCTURES

Gain Guided Laser Structure:

 Fabrication of multimode injection lasers with a single or small number of lateral

modes is achieved by the use of stripe geometry.
 These devices are often called gain guided lasers.
 The construction of the current flow to the stripe is realized in the structure either by
the regions outside the stripe with protons (proton-isolated stripe) to make them
highly resistive or by oxide p-n junction isolation.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 (a)

(b)
Fig 3.15
 The structure for an aluminum gallium arsenide oxide isolated stripe DH laser was
shown in Fig. (3.15).
 It has an active region of gallium arsenide bounded on both sides by aluminum
gallium arsenide regions.
 This technique has been widely applied, especially for multimode laser structures
used in the shorter wavelength region.
 The current is confined by etching a narrow stripe in a silicon dioxide film.
 Two other basic techniques for the fabrication of gain-guided laser structure are
illustrated in Fig. (3.15) (a) and (b) which show the proton-isolated stripe and the p-n
junction isolated stripe structures respectively.
 In (3.15) the resistive region formed by the proton bombardment gives better current
confinement than the simple oxide stripe and has superior thermal properties due to
the absence of the silicon dioxide layer: p-n junction isolation involves a selective
diffusion through the n type surface region in order to reach the p type layers, as
illustrated in Fig. (3.15) (b).

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  None of these structures confines all the radiation and current to the stripe region and
spreading occurs on both sides of the stripe.
 With stripe widths of 10 um or less, such planar stripe lasers provide highly efficient
coupling into multimode fibers, but significantly lower coupling efficiency is
achieved into small-core-diameter single-mode fibers.

 The optical output power against current characteristics for the ideal semiconductor
laser was illustrated in Fig. (3.8).
 However, with certain practical laser diodes the characteristic is not linear in the
simulated emission region, but exhibits kinks.
 This phenomenon is particularly prevalent with gain-guided injection laser devices.
 These kinks may be classified into two broad categories.
 The first type of kink results from changes in the dominant lateral mode of the laser as
the current is changed.
 The output characteristic for laser A in Fig (3.8) illustrates this type of kink where
lasing from the device changes from the fundamental lateral mode to a higher order
lateral mode (second order) in a current region corresponding to a change in slope.
 The second type of kink involves a 'spike', as observed for laser B of Fig. (3.8) (a).
 These spikes have been shown to be associated with filamentary behavior within the
active region of the device.
 The filaments result from defects within the crystal structure.
 Both these mechanisms affect the near and far-field intensity distributions (patterns)
obtained from the laser.
 A typical near-field intensity distribution corresponding to a single optical output
power level in the plane the junction shown in Fig. (3.8) (b).

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  As this distribution is in the lateral direction, it is determined by the nature of the
lateral waveguide.
 The single intensity maximum shown indicates that the fundamental lateral mode is
dominant.
 To maintain such near field pattern the stripe geometry of the device is important. In
general, relatively narrow stripe devices (<10 um) formed a planar process allow the
by fundamental lateral mode to dominate.
 This is especially the case at low power levels where near-field patterns similar to Fig.
(3.8) (b) may be obtained.
 Although gain guided lasers are commercially available for operation in both shorter
wavelength range (using GaAs active regions) and the longer length range (using
InGaAsP active regions) they exhibit several undesirable characteristics.
 Apart from the nonlinearities in the light output versus current characteristics
discussed above, gain-guided injection lasers have relatively high threshold currents
(100 to 150 mA) as well as low differential quantum efficiency tee effects are
primarily caused by the small carrier-induced refractive index reduction within the
devices which results in the movement of theoptical mode along the junction plane.
 The problems can be greatly reduced by introducing some refractive index variation
into lateral structure of the laser such that the optical mode along the junction plane is
essentially determined by the device structure.

Index guided laser structure:

(a)

(b) (c)
Figure 3.17

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  The drawbacks associated with the gain-guided laser structures were largely
overcome through the development of index-guided injection lasers.
 In some such structures with weak index guiding, the active region waveguide
thickness is varied by growing it over a channel or ridge in the substrate.
 A ridge is produced above the active region and the surrounding areas are etched
close to it(within 0.2 to 0.3 pm).
 Insulating coatings on these surrounding area confine the current flow through the
ridge and active stripe while the edges of the ridge reflect light, guiding it within the
active layer and thus forming a waveguide.
 Hence in the ridge wave laser shown in Fig. (3.17) (a), the ridge not only location but
also acts as the narrow provides the for the weak index guiding operate at various
current-confining stripe.
 These devices have been fabricated to operate at various wavelengths with a single
lateral mode and room temperature typically, the currents as low as 18mA with output
powers of 25 mw.
 More typically, the threshold current for such weakly index-guided structures are in
the range 40 to 60mA which compares a light output versus current characteristic for
a ridge waveguide laser with that of an oxide stripe gain-guided device.
 Alternatively, the application of a uniformly thick, planar active waveguide can be
achieved through lateral variations in the confinement layer thickness or the refractive
index.
 The inverted-rib waveguide device sometimes called planar convex waveguide)
illustrated in Fig. (3.17) (c) is an example of this structure. However, room
temperature cw threshold currents are between To a 90 mA with output powers of
around 20 mw for In devices operating at a wavelength of 1.3 um .

(a)

(b)
Fig 3.18

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  Strong index along the junction plane can provide imp guiding transverse mode
control in injection lasers.
 This can be achieved using a buried heterostructure (BH) device in which the active
volume is completely buried in a material of wider bandgap and lower refractive
index.
 The structure of a BH laser is shown in Fig. (3.18) (a).
 The optical field is well confined in both the transverse and lateral directions within
these lasers, providing strong index guiding of the optical mode together with good
carrier confinement.
 Confinement of the injected current to the active region is obtained through the
reverse-biased junctions of the higher bandgap material.
 It may be observed from Fig. (3.18) that the higher bandgap, low refractive index
confinement material is AlGaAs for GaAs lasers operating in the 0.8 to 0.9 um
wavelength range, whereas it is InP in InGaAsP devices operating in the 1.1 to 1.6 um
wavelength range.
 A wide variety of BH laser configurations are commercially available offering both
multimode and single-mode operation.
 In the current confinement provided by these devices leads to lower threshold currents
(10 to 20mA) than may be obtained with either weakly index guided or gain guided
structures.
 A more complex structure called the double-channel planar by heterostructure
(DCPBH) laser is illustrated in Fig. (3.18) (b).
 This device, which has a planar InGaAsP active region, provides very high-power
operation with CW output powers up to 40 mw in the longer wavelength region.
 Room temperature threshold currents are in the range 15 to 20 mA for both 1.3 um
and 1.55um emitting devices.
 Lateral mode control may be achieved by reducing the dimension of the active region
with a cross-sectional area of 0.3 um being required for fundamental mode operation.
 Parasitic capacitances resulting from the use of the reverse-biased current
confinement layers can reduce the high-speed modulation capabilities of BH lasers.
 However, this problem has been overcome through either the regrowth semi-
insulating material or the deposition of a dielectric material.
 Using these techniques, modulation speeds in excess of 20 GHz have been achieved
which are limited by the active region rather than the parasitic capacitances.

TEMPERATURE EFFECTS:

 As temperature increases, threshold current also increases. Thus laser diode is

temperature dependent.
 Threshold current of laser diode is temperature dependent. (T) increases with
temperature in all types of semiconductor laser because of various complex
temperatute dependent factors.
 Empirical expressions that shows the relationship between (T) and temperature is
given as (T)= e^T/To

Where,To is a measure of the relative temperature insensitivity

is a constant and
T is the device absolute temperature

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  Experimental value of for 1300 nm in GaAsP lasers are typically (60 – 80) kelvin.
 Lasing threshold can change as the larger ages. If a constant outut power level is to be
maintained the temperature of the laser changes or at the laser ages, it is necessary to
adjust the dc-bias current level.
 Possible methods for achieving this automatically are optical feedback ad fed forward
schemes ,temperature matching transistors and predistortion techniques.

EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY:

The external differential quantum efficiency ŋext is defined as the number of photons
emitted per radiative electron-hole pair recombination above threshold. Under the assumption
that above threshold the gain coefficient remains fixed at gth, ŋext is given by

= ( -ά)/

where

– internal quantum efficiency

is calculated from the straight line portion of the curve for the emitted optical power P
versus drive current I, which gives

= q.dp/ dI = 0.8065λ(μm) (mW/mA)

where

- bandgap energy in electron volts

dp -incremental change in the emitted optical power
dI – incremental change in the drive current
λ – the emission wavelength

FEEDBACK STABILIZING CIRCUIT:

 The light emerging from the rear facet of the laser is monitored by a pin photodiode,
the input signal pattern is compared with the optical level of the laser diode.
 This effectively prevents the feedback circuit from erroneously raising the bias
current level during long sequences of digital zeros or during a period in which there
is no input signal on the channel
 In the circuit the dc reference through resistor R1 sets the bias current at the proper
operating point during long sequences of zeros.
 When this bias current is added to the laser drive current, the desired peak output
power from the laser is obtained.
 The resistor R2 balances the signal reference current against the pin photo current for
a 50 percent duty ratio at 25 degree Celsius.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  As the lasing threshold changes because of aging or temperature variations ,the bias
current IB is automatically adjusted to maintain a balance between the data reference
and the pin photocurrent.
 Another standard method of stablizing the optical output of a laser diode is using a
miniature thermo electric cooler. this device maintains the laser at a constant
temperature.

PHOTO DETECTOR NOISES:

Shot noise (or) quantum noise:When no. of photons falling on the surface of photodiode
fluctuates with time, then flow of electrons will fluctuate across the junction.because of this
shot noise arises.

 2eI P B. for.PIN

I S orI Q  
2
 2eI p M F ( M ).Bfor . APD
IP - Primary photo current
B - BW of receiver
F (M) = Excess noise factor
F (M = M x, 0 < x < 1
M - Multiplication factor or Internal gain

Dark current: Even though when no light falls on the surface of photodiode, a small amount
of current will flow across the junction due to thermally generated flow of electrons and/or
holes. The dark current is classified as follows:

(i) Surface dark current: Due to surface leakage current IL.

I DS  2eI L B . for .PIN .and . APD

(ii) Bulk dark current: Due to thermally generated flow of electrons and/or hole across
junction of photodiode.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Optical detector
A photo detector is a device which absorbs light and converts the optical
energy to measurable electric current. They are used for detection of
optical signals and for conversion of optical power to electrical power

PIN photodiode
PIN photo diode consists of three regions. They are P+ region, intrinsic
region and N+ region. The P and N regions are heavily doped region
contains more majority charge carriers whereas intrinsic region has high
resistivity and no free charge carriers.

Operation
The width of the depletion layer may be increased artificially, by adding
an intermediate intrinsic region. As the intrinsic region has high
resistance, a small reverse bias is good enough to increase the width of
the depletion region so that it extends into the n-layer. A further
advantage of a p-i-n diode is that the charge separation in the active
region is larger which leads to smaller junction capacitance.

The photodiode is operated under a moderate reverse bias. This keeps

the depletion layer free of any carriers and normally no current will flow.
However when a light photon enters the intrinsic region it can strike an
atom in the crystal lattice and dislodge an electron. In this way a hole-
electron pair is generated. The hole and electron will then migrate in
opposite directions under the action of the electric field across the
intrinsic region and a small current can be seen to flow. It is found that
the size of the current is proportional to the amount of light entering the
intrinsic region. The more light, the greater the numbers of hole electron
pairs that are generated and the greater the current flowing.
Operating diodes under reverse bias increases the sensitivity as it
widens the depletion layer where the photo action occurs. In this way
increasing the reverse bias has the effect of increasing the active area of
the photodiode and strengthens what may be termed as the
photocurrent.

Avalanche diode
A major disadvantage of a p-i-n diode is that each photon generates only
one pair of electron and hole and there is no internal gain. Amplifying the
output current after the detector stage introduces significant noise. One
of the ways to deal with this problem is to design a detector with an
internal gain (the other is to amplify the optical signal itself).

An avalanche photodiode (APD) is a device with internal gain which

could be as high as 100. Si - APDs have sensitivities in the range 400 to
1100 nm while Ge-APDs have their spectral sensitivities in 800 to 1550
nm. InGaAs and InP APDs provide better sensitivity and spectral
response.
Construction
APDs are essentially p-n photodiodes operated under reverse bias near
the breakdown voltage. The configuration consists of an n+ layer
followed, in sequence, by (i) a thin player, (ii) an intrinsic layer (in reality,
a lightly doped p layer) and (iii) a heavily doped player. The electric field
distribution is shown. The field strength is maximum at the n+p junction.

Operation
Light enters the un-doped region of the avalanche photodiode and
causes the generation of hole-electron pairs. Under the action of the
electric field the electrons migrate towards the avalanche region. Here
the electric field causes their velocity to increase to the extent that
collisions with the crystal lattice create further hole electron pairs. In turn
these electrons may collide with the crystal lattice to create even more
hole electron pairs. In this way a single electron created by light in the
un-doped region may result in many more being created.
The avalanche photodiode has a number of differences when compared
to the ordinary PIN diode. The avalanche process means that a single
electron produced by light in the un-doped region is multiplied several
times by the avalanche process. As a result the avalanche photo diode
is far more sensitive. However it is found that it is not nearly as linear,
and additionally the avalanche process means that the resultant signal is
far noisier than one from a p-i-n diode.
  As the lasing threshold changes because of aging or temperature variations ,the bias
current IB is automatically adjusted to maintain a balance between the data reference
and the pin photocurrent.
 Another standard method of stablizing the optical output of a laser diode is using a
miniature thermo electric cooler. this device maintains the laser at a constant
temperature.

PHOTO DETECTOR NOISES:

Shot noise (or) quantum noise:When no. of photons falling on the surface of photodiode
fluctuates with time, then flow of electrons will fluctuate across the junction.because of this
shot noise arises.

 2eI P B. for.PIN

I S orI Q  
2
 2eI p M F ( M ).Bfor . APD
IP - Primary photo current
B - BW of receiver
F (M) = Excess noise factor
F (M = M x, 0 < x < 1
M - Multiplication factor or Internal gain

Dark current: Even though when no light falls on the surface of photodiode, a small amount
of current will flow across the junction due to thermally generated flow of electrons and/or
holes. The dark current is classified as follows:

(i) Surface dark current: Due to surface leakage current IL.

I DS  2eI L B . for .PIN .and . APD

(ii) Bulk dark current: Due to thermally generated flow of electrons and/or hole across
junction of photodiode.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

  2eI D B : for .PIN
I DB  
 2eI D M 2 F ( M ) B : for . APD

(iii)Thermal noise: When current is flowing through load resistor, heat is dissipated. This
produces a noise which is called as thermal noise or Johnson noise.
4 K BTB
IT  . for.both.PIN .and . APD
RL
Where KB - Boltzmann constant
T - Temp in Kelvin
RL - Load resistance.

SNR: The signal component is calculated as

m2 2
iP  IP
2 where m – modulation index

Ip – Primary photocurrent.

SNR FOR APD RECEIVER:

S Signal. power. from. photocurrent

SNR, 
N Photo. det ector.noise. power  amplifier.noise. power

2
 I P  RL
SNR 
 i S
2 2 2
   i DS    i DB    iT  RL
2

2
 IP  M 2
SNR. for.PIN 
2eI P  I D B  2eI L B  4 K B TB / RL

2
 IP  M 2
SNR. for. APD 
2eI P  I D M 2 F ( M ) B  2eI L B  4 K B TB / RL

NOISE FIGURE :Ratio of input SNR to the output SNR of the amplifier .

Amplifier Noise Figure[ranges from 3 to 5 dB]

SNR I
Fn.or .NF  .
SNR o

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Detector Response Time
It depends on

• Thickness of the active area.

• Related to the amount of time required for the electrons generated to flow out of the
detector active area.

• Detector RC time constant.

• The capacitance of the photodiode and the resistance of the load

Depletion layer photocurrent

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Response Time

Transit Time

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Diffusion Time

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

Maximun Bandwidth

RC Time Constant

EDFA – Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier

 It is an optical amplifier, which directly amplifies light signal between the range of
1530 nm to 1560 nm wavelength signal.

 The length of 10 nm to 30 nm optical fiber core is doped with a rare earth element
Erbium(Eb).

 EDFA operates in a spectral band called C-band.

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

 UNIVERSITY QUESTIONS

Part – A
1. What are the advantages of LED? (May 2012) (R)
2. Give an example each for direct band gap and indirect band gap materials.(May 2012)
(U)
3. Define quantum efficiency of LED. (Nov-Dec 2014,May 2012 ,April 2010) (R)
4. Why silicon is not used to fabricate LED or laser diode? (Nov 2011) (U)
5. What are the advantages of double hetero structure optical sources? (April 2011) (R)
6. What is lasing condition?What are the mechanisms behind lasing action. ( Nov-Dec
2016) (R)
7. Compare and contrast between surface and edge emitting LEDs. (Nov 2012)(AZ)
8. Define responsivity of photodiode. (Nov-Dec 2013, April 2010) (R)
9. Define quantum efficiency of a photo detector and write the expression (Nov-Dec
2013, Nov-Dec 2011) (R)
10. Why are semiconductor based photo detectors preferred to other types of photo
detectors? (April-May 2011) (U)
11. What is the significance of intrinsic layer in PIN diode? (Nov-Dec 2012) (R)
12. What is known as detector response time? (May 2012)(R)
13. Define power- bandwidth product. (Apr-May 2015) (R)
14. Contrast the advantages of PIN diode with APD diode. (Apr-May 2015) (U)
15. What is meant by Mechanical splicing? (May-June 2013) (R)
16. Calculate the Band gap energy for an LED to emit (May-June 2013) (A)
17. Define external quantum efficiency.(Nov-Dec 2016) (R)
18. Write two difference between a Laser diode and a LED. (Nov-Dec 2013) (U)
19. What is dark current? (Nov-Dec 2012) (R)
20. Write the laser diode rate equations. (Nov-Dec 2017) (U)
21. Give some possible lensing schemes to improve optical source to fiber coupling
efficiency. (Nov-Dec 2012) (R)
22. Illustrate the factors that determine the response time of the photodiode. (Apr-May
2018) (U)
23. An LED has radiative and non-radiative recombination times of 30 ns and 100 ns
respectively. Determine the internal quantum efficiency. (Apr-May 2018) (U)

Part – B

1. What is fiber splicing? Discuss about fusion splicing and mechanical splicing. (Nov-Dec
2016, Apr-May 2018) (U)
2. Explain the working principle of laser diode and derive its rate equation. (Nov-Dec 2016)
(U)
3. With neat sketch, explain the working of a light emitting diode. (Apr-May 2015, Nov-Dec
2013) (U)
4. Derive an expression for the quantum efficiency of a double hetro-structure LED. (Apr-
May 2015, Nov-Dec 2013) (AZ)

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College

5. Draw and compare LED and Injection Laser Diode structures. (Nov-Dec 2015) (AZ)
6. Discuss about optical detection noise. (Nov-Dec 2015) (U)
7. Explain laser modes and lasing conditions. (U)
8. Draw the structures of SLED and ELED and explain their principle of operation. (U)
9. Explain gain guided and Index guided laser diodes. (U)
10. Discuss Burried Hetero structure Laser diode with neat sketch. (U)
11. Illustrate the different lensing schemes available to improve the power coupling
efficiency. (Apr-May 2018) (U)
12.What are the different types of fiber splices and misalignments. (R)
13.What is meant by detector response time? Explain. (Nov-Dec 2014,Nov-Dec 2012) (U)
14. Describe the various types of fiber connectors and couplers. (May-June 2013) (U)
15. Explain fiber alignment and joint losses. (May-June 2013) (U)
16. Describe various fiber splicing techniques with their diagrams. (May-June 2013) (U)
17.Describe the three types of fiber misalignment that contribute to insertion loss at an optical
fiber joint. (Nov-Dec 2014) (U)
18.Describe about connectors, splices and couplers. (Nov-Dec 2015) (U)
19.A Photodiode is constructed of GaAs which has a band gap energy of 1.43eV at 300K.
Find the long wavelength cut-off. (Apr-May 2015) (U)
20.What do you understand by optical-wave confinement and current confinement in LASER
diode? Explain with suitable structures. (Nov-Dec 2013) (U)
21. Give a brief account on the resonant frequencies of laser diodes. (Apr-May 2018) (U)

Mrs.D.Padmapriya, Assoc.Prof./ECE Panimalar Engineering College