Conditions for self-sustained pulsation and bistability in semiconductor lasers

Abstract

Conditions have been analyzed for the occurrence for self-sustained pulsations and bistabilities in semiconductor lasers having a saturable absorber region. It is shown that there are three crucial parameters, namely ratios of differential gain and carrier lifetime between amplifying region and absorbing region, and ratio of absorbing magnitude in absorbing region to the cavity loss. Ranges of these three parameters are determined in which bistabilities and self-sustained pulsations take place.