Parasitic-free measurement of the fundamental frequency response of a semiconductor laser by active-layer photomixing

Abstract

We report the measurement of the fundamental (intrinsic) frequency response of a GaAs semiconductor laser to 12 GHz by directly photomixing two optical sources in the active region of the laser. This novel technique reveals the underlying fundamental frequency response of the device as parasitic effects are avoided. Well beyond the relaxation resonance, the theoretically predicted 40 dB/dec signal rolloff is observed. Other features of the measured response function are also observed to be the theoretical ideal.