Abstract
An experimental study of the dynamics of a quantum-dash Fabry-Pérot passively
mode-locked laser diode is presented. Firstly, the switching on and off characteristic
times of the mode-locking mechanism with pulsed biasing current are assessed. Secondly,
the locking and unlocking characteristic times to the injection of a 10-Gbps
pseudo-random binary sequence of nonreturn-to-zero data are determined. The dynamics is
analysed through the instantaneous frequency of the ~40 GHz beat-tone
signal measured at the output of the laser under investigation, which after a frequency
down-conversion stage, is recorded by a real-time oscilloscope. Experimental results
indicate that a time of 5 ns characterizes the establishment of the passive mode-locking
mechanism for a pulsed biasing current. A time of 20 ns has been measured for the
synchronization of the quantum-dash laser diode to the injected 10 Gbps data sequence.
In addition, the mode-locked laser diode de-synchronizes and switches to the
free-running condition in also 20 ns after a holding time of ~100 ns.
© 2012 IEEE
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