IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 56, NO.

3, JUNE 2020 1100105

A General Relation Between Frequency Noise

and Lineshape of Laser Light
Zhewei Zhang and Amnon Yariv, Life Fellow, IEEE

Abstract— Lasers and especially semiconductor lasers (SCLs) can possess similar features. Henry [22] showed that frequency
are playing a major role in advanced technological and scientific noise and lineshape in SCLs can come from the same origin,
tasks ranging from sensing, fundamental investigations in quan- such as spontaneous emission. Although it has been realized
tum optics and communications. The demand for ever-increasing
accuracy and communication rates has driven these applications that there exists a strong connection between the frequency
to employ phase modulation and coherent detection. The main noise and lineshape, a simple and rigorous mathematical
laser attribute that comes into play is its coherence which is usu- treatment of such a relation has not been available.
ally quantified by either the Schawlow-Townes (S-T) linewidth, In this paper, we derive a general relation between the
the spectral width of the laser field, or the power spectral frequency noise PSD and the spectral lineshape of the laser
density (PSD) function of the laser frequency fluctuation. In this
paper, we present a derivation of a general and direct relationship light. The validity of the theoretical result is established
between these two coherence measures. We refer to the result as experimentally. The result suggests methods of noise control
the Central Relation. The relation applies independently of the yet to be demonstrated.
physical origin of the noise. Experiments are described which
demonstrate the validity of the Central Relation and at the same
time suggest new methods of controlling frequency noise at base II. M ATHEMATICAL D ERIVATION
band by optical filtering. The electric field of laser light can be expressed as
Index Terms— Laser theory, laser noise, laser applications.
E = E 0 ei{ω0 t +ψ(t )} (1)

I. I NTRODUCTION where ψ(t) represents the phase fluctuations due to random or

deterministic modulation, whose average value vanishes. E 0 is

L ASER light plays a key role in modern technology,

in applications ranging from optical communication
[1]–[3], optical sensing [4]–[6], imaging [7], [8], spec-
the amplitude and ω0 is the angular frequency of the light. The
lineshape function (single-sided spectrum) of the laser light is
represented by the PSD of the laser field, which is the Fourier
troscopy [9], [10] and many others. The most important transform of the correlation function of the field
attribute of the SCLs in most of these applications is its  +∞
temporal coherence quantified most often in terms of the SE (ω) = 2 e−iωτ < E ∗ (t)E(t + τ ) >dτ (2)
frequency fluctuation noise and/or the laser linewidth. In the −∞
ideal quantum-limit case where the dominant source of noise where <> represents the time average.
is spontaneous emission into the oscillation modes, the two The correlation function can be calculated as [17], [23]
noise measures are simply related. This, however, is not the
case in most real life scenarios. Relevant investigations are < E ∗ (t)E(t + τ ) > = E 02 eiω0 τ < ei{ψ(t +τ )−ψ(t )} >
1
= E 02 eiω0 τ e− 2 [<{ψ(t +τ )−ψ(t )}
2 >]
numerous [11]–[20].
Among the notable investigations involving the relation  +∞ 2 (π f τ )
−2 Sυ ( f ) sin df
between the frequency noise and optical lineshape are those = E 02 eiω0 τ e 0 f2 (3)
of Daino et al. [21] who showed experimentally how the
deviation of the laser’s frequency noise from white noise Since intensity fluctuations are strongly damped due to gain
affects its lineshape and that the frequency noise and lineshape saturation, E 02 is taken as a constant so that our main concern
here is phase noise. The frequency noise power spectral
Manuscript received August 15, 2019; revised February 27, 2020; accepted density is given by
March 3, 2020. Date of publication March 11, 2020; date of current version  +∞
March 19, 2020. (Corresponding author: Zhewei Zhang.)
Zhewei Zhang is with the Department of Applied Physics and Materi- Sυ ( f ) = 2 e−i2π f τ < ψ̇(t)ψ̇(t + τ ) > dτ (4)
als Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA −∞
(e-mail: [email protected]).
Amnon Yariv is with the Department of Applied Physics and Materials
is the single-sided frequency noise power spectral density
Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA, and (PSD). The central frequency of lineshape is just ω0 .
also with the Department of Electrical Engineering, California Institute of We define a new function η(υ) by means of the relation
Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available
 2πυ+ω0
1
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. SE (ω)dω = {1 − η(υ)}E 02 (5)
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JQE.2020.2980011 2π −2πυ+ω0

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
1100105 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 56, NO. 3, JUNE 2020

Notice that if we integrate over the whole laser lineshape The second term on the left side in equation (13) contains a
function, we get the total “power” of the laser light, namely sinc function and using the relation (10), we take the lower
1
 +∞ limit of integration at π f 2υ = π 2
SE (ω)dω = E 02 (6)  +∞
2π −∞ Sυ ( f )
d f = η(υ) (14)
so that the function η(υ) is equal to the total power contained υ f2
outside the integrated frequency range of width 4πυ straddling
The physical meaning of (14) is more apparent in a form,
the central laser frequency ω0 . The function η(υ) can be
which results from a differentiation of both sides with respect
expressed as
 −2πυ+ω0 to υ
1 1
η(υ) = 2 { SE (ω)dω Sυ (υ) 1
E 0 2π −∞ = 2 {SE (ω0 + 2πυ) + S E (ω0 − 2πυ)} (15)
 +∞ υ2 E0
1
+ SE (ω)dω} (7) where the differential form of η(υ) can be derived from
2π 2πυ+ω0
equation (7).
and it vanishes as υ approaches infinity.
Equation (15) constitutes a general relation between the
The use of (2) and (3) in (5) leads to
 2πυ+ω0  +∞ frequency noise PSD Sυ (υ) and the lineshape function SE (ω)
1 of the laser light. We will refer to it as the Central Relation.
dω ei(ω0 −ω)τ
2π −2πυ+ω0 −∞ It shows that at high frequencies υ there is a one-to-one
 +∞ 2 (π f τ ) correspondence between the frequency noise and the lineshape
−2 Sυ ( f ) sin df
×e 0 f2 dτ = 1 − η(υ) (8) function. Empirically, frequencies which are more than ten
times the linewidth (full width half maximum (FWHM)) of the
integrating over the angular frequencyωleads to
 +∞ optical lineshape can be considered as sufficiently high for the
2υ sinc(2πτ υ) Central Relation to apply; such a rule of thumb is confirmed
−∞ by the experiments described in the following sections. Notice
 +∞ 2 (π f τ )
that we have made no assumptions regarding the physical
−2 Sυ ( f ) sin df
×e 0 f2 dτ = 1 − η(υ) (9) origin of the frequency noise.
We use the following mathematical relations to deal with sinc It is worth pointing out that the left side of equation (15) is
functions essentially the phase noise PSD of the laser. The meaning of
equation (15) can be interpreted as following. The frequency
sinc(2πτ υ) = W (2πτ υ)as υ → ∞ noise at a high base band frequency affects the lineshape at
πf πf the same frequency offset with respect to the optical central
sinc( ) = W( )asυ → ∞ (10)
2υ 2υ frequency. If the lineshape is symmetrical about the central

where W (x) is equal to 1 when |x| ≤ π 2 and vanishes frequency, which is true for laser lineshape, then any feature in
otherwise. The upper equation is valid as both 2υsinc(2πτ υ) the phase noise PSD at high frequency will appear identically
and 2υW (2πτ υ) are asymptotically identical to the δ(τ ) in the lineshape and vice versa. To the best of our knowledge,
function. The lower equation is simply the Fourier transform and after a considerable search, we have not found a result
of the upper one. similar to (15) in the published literature.
Using the definition of W (x) we can limit the range of
integration in (9) to − 4υ 1
≤ τ ≤ 4υ 1
, which allows us to III. T HE VALIDITY OF THE C ENTRAL R ELATION
rewrite it as
 1  +∞ 2 A well-known special case involving the relation between
4υ −2 Sυ ( f ) sin (π2 f τ ) d f
2υ e 0 f dτ = 1 − η(υ) laser frequency noise PSD and lineshape is that of the quantum
1
− 4υ limit of spontaneous emission described above. In that case,
Since the integrand is an even function of τ SE (ω) is known to be a Lorentzian. Here, we show that it
 1  2 obeys the Central Relation (15).
4υ −2 +∞ Sυ ( f ) sin (π f τ ) d f
4υ e 0 f2 dτ = 1 − η(υ) (11) Assume the FWHM of the Lorentzian lineshape is h, then
0 the value of the single-band frequency noise PSD is [24]
For sufficiently large υ, the time variable τ in (11) remains
h
small over the entire integration range so that we can Taylor- Sυ (υ) =
expand the exponential part and keep only the leading term π
 1  +∞ which makes the left-hand side of (15)
4υ sin2 (π f τ )
4υ {1 − 2 Sυ ( f ) d f }dτ h
0 0 f2
= 1 − η(υ) (12) πυ 2
Integrating over τ leads to The Lorentzian lineshape SE (ω) can be expressed as
 +∞
Sυ ( f ) πf 2π E 02 h
{1 − sinc( )}d f = η(υ) (13) SE (ω) =
0 f 2 2υ (ω − ω0 )2 + (πh)2
ZHANG AND YARIV: GENERAL RELATION BETWEEN FREQUENCY NOISE AND LINESHAPE 1100105

Fig. 1. Measurement setups for (a) frequency noise power spectral density
and (b) lineshape. PC: polarization controller; MZI: Mach-Zehnder interfer-
ometer; RFSA: radio frequency spectrum analyzer. A narrow-linewidth fiber
laser is used as the reference laser.

subject to (6). The right-hand side of (15) becomes

4πh
(2πυ)2 + (πh)2
In the limit of υ  h, which means at high frequencies (the
premise of the Central Relation (1)), the previous formula is
reduced to
Fig. 2. (a) Frequency noise PSD of the laser (b) corresponding phase noise
h PSD and lineshape of the laser.
πυ 2
which is the same as the left-hand side of (15). Q.E.D.
The general relation describes closely the match between
To illustrate experimentally the validity of the Central
the frequency noise and lineshape and therefore we show
Relation, both the frequency noise PSD and lineshape of a
experimentally the validity of the general relation.
single laser have been measured. The measurement setups
are shown in Fig. 1. The frequency noise PSD is obtained
in the following manner. The laser frequency is locked using IV. E NGINEERING THE F REQUENCY N OISE PSD
the feedback circuit to a quadrature point of a Mach-Zehnder Being able to control laser frequency noise in chosen
interferometer (MZI) with a free spectral range (FSR) of frequency region is of great importance for technologies and
roughly 1.5 GHz and a spectrum analyzer measures the applications which employ phase modulation of lasers and/or
power spectrum of the resulting electrical signal from the coherent detection. The corresponding phase noise of the
balanced photodetector. The frequency noise PSD is then system in general can be estimated with
calculated based on the power spectrum [25]. To measure the
 1
laser’s lineshape, its output field is beat against the field of τ

a narrow-linewidth fiber laser and the power spectrum of the Sυ ( f )d f

1
T
beat signal is measured. 
The laser’s frequency noise obtained in this manner is shown where T is the total acquisition time of the signal and 1 T
in Fig. 2(a). There exists some jitter at tens of megahertz in is usually very small; τ represents the time interval between
the spectrum, which comes from the controlling circuit of the two successive samplings  and therefore 1 τ is the sampling
laser. The lineshape of the laser is displayed in Fig. 2(b) and it or modulationfrequency. 1 τ is typically orders of magnitude
contains two bumps, which are symmetrical about the central larger than 1 T and varies from one application to another.
frequency. To show that the frequency noise and lineshape For example, in high-speed coherent optical communications,
indeed obey the general relation (15), we first calculate the the modulation frequency can be as high as tens of GHz.
phase noise PSD, namely the left side of equation (15), based However, for applications such as phase-sensitive LIDAR and
on the measured frequency noise PSD and then match it with imaging, a sampling frequency on the order of tens of MHz
the lineshape, as is shown in Fig. 2(b). may be enough. Sυ ( f ) represents the frequency noise PSD
The jitter in the phase noise PSD is located at the same of laser light.
frequency as the bumps in the lineshape with respect to the In order to reduce the phase noise in the system, it is crucial
central frequency. In addition, the bump shape reproduces to suppress the laser frequency noise PSD at frequencies close
the envelope of the jitter in the phase noise PSD. Because to the sampling or modulation frequency, namely
of the measurement resolution of the spectrum analyzer,
we are unable to observe the individual lines in the lineshape. Sυ ( f )| f ∼ 1
τ
1100105 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 56, NO. 3, JUNE 2020

Fig. 4. Schematic plot of the laser lineshape and transmission spectrum of

the MZI; the laser frequency aligned to maximum transmission frequency of
the MZI.

Fig. 3. Measurement setup for the frequency noise PSD of laser output
modified by the MZI with the free spectral range of 203 MHz.

because it occupies the largest bandwidth and thus contributes

mostly to the phase noise.
The Central Relation (15) is valid for any laser light and
can be used as a guide to custom-tailor the frequency noise
PSD by optical filtering.
Consider the case when the laser light passes through a
generalized optical filter, whose power transmission is the
function H (|ω −ω0|), which is centered at the same frequency
as the laser. It is assumed to be symmetric about the central
frequency. Without loss of generality, we allow the filter to
possesses unity transmission near ω0 and to have a negligible
effect on the total power of the light. The output lineshape
function is thus changed from SE (ω) to
SE (ω) = SE (ω)H (|ω − ω0 |) (16)
The Central Relation (15) also applies directly to the light
exiting the filter, which leads to
 (υ)
Sυ 1
= 2 {SE (ω0 + 2πυ) + SE (ω0 − 2πυ)} (17)
υ2 E0 Fig. 5. (a) Frequency noise PSD of the laser and laser passing through the
MZI (b) ratio between the two frequency noise PSDs.
where Sυ (υ) represents the frequency noise PSD of the light

modified by the filter. From equation (15), (16) and (17),

it follows that spectrum near υ by optical filtering at frequencies ω0 ± 2πυ,

Sυ (υ) = Sυ (υ)H (2πυ) (18) which are orders of magnitude larger. To demonstrate the
significance of equation (18) and further illustrate the validity
where Sυ (υ) is the original frequency noise PSD of the laser. of (15), we pass the laser output field through a MZI with the
Equation (18) indicates that the frequency noise PSD at a FSR of 203 MHz, as shown in Fig. 3. The laser frequency is
baseband frequency υ is modified by the same transmission tuned to match one of the maximum-transmission frequencies
function of the filter at an optical frequency ω0 ± 2πυ. This of the MZI, which is schematically shown in Fig. 4. Notice
equation indicates that the frequency noise at some high that the Lorentzian linewidth of the laser is actually much
baseband frequency υ can be controlled by optically filtering smaller than the FSR, therefore the MZI doesn’t affect the
the tail of lineshape at the frequency offset υ from the center. total power. However, equation (18) predicts that the frequency
By correctly designing the transmission spectrum of the filter, noise should be affected by the MZI.
the frequency noise can be tailored correspondingly. We compare the measured frequency noise with the intrinsic
Equation (18) appears alarmingly simple but consider the frequency noise of the laser, as shown in Fig. 5(a). We find the
fact that it predicts a tailoring of, for example, a microwaves frequency noise is modified drastically by the MZI. To confirm
ZHANG AND YARIV: GENERAL RELATION BETWEEN FREQUENCY NOISE AND LINESHAPE 1100105

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vol. 4, no. 6, pp. S283–S294, Nov. 2002. physics from the California Institute of Technology, CA, USA, in 2018, where
[5] W. M. Wang, K. T. V. Grattan, A. W. Palmer, and W. J. O. Boyle, he is pursuing the Ph.D. degree in applied physics. His research interests
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[8] Q. Zhan et al., “Using 915 nm laser excited Tm3+ /Er3+ /Ho3+ -doped engineering from the University of California at
NaYbF4 upconversion nanoparticles for in vitro and deeper in vivo Berkeley, Berkeley, in 1954, 1956, and 1958,
bioimaging without overheating irradiation,” ACS Nano, vol. 5, no. 5, respectively.
pp. 3744–3757, May 2011. He joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray
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[10] B. G. Lee et al., “Widely tunable single-mode quantum cascade laser as an Associate Professor of electrical engine
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Dec. 2007, Art. no. 231101. Thomas G. Myers Professor of electrical engine
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[12] K. Vahala and A. Yariv, “Semiclassical theory of noise in semicon- in 1996. On the technical and scientific sides, he took part (with various
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pp. 1096–1101, Jun. 1983. in the original formulation of the theory of nonlinear quantum optics,
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N. Peyghambarian, “Low-noise narrow-linewidth fiber laser at 1550 nm feedback laser. He has published widely in the laser and optics fields. He has
(June 2003),” J. Lightw. Technol., vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 57–62, Jan. 2004. written a number of basic texts in quantum electronics, optics, and quantum
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measurements using self-homodyne detection with short delay,” Opt. Dr. Yariv is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Commun., vol. 155, nos. 1–3, pp. 180–186, Oct. 1998. the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences.