A photonic ultra-wideband pulse generator based on relaxation oscillations of a semiconductor laser

Abstract

A photonic ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse generator based on relaxation oscillations of a semiconductor laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. We numerically simulate the modulation response of a direct modulation laser (DML) and show that due to the relaxation oscillations of the laser, the generated signals with complex shape in time domain match the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mask in the frequency domain. Experimental results using a DML agree well with simulation predictions. Furthermore, we also experimentally demonstrate the generation of FCC compliant UWB signals by externally injecting a distributed feedback (DFB) laser.