High-speed laser modulation beyond the relaxation resonance frequency limit

Abstract

We propose and show that for coupling modulated lasers (CMLs), in which the output coupler is modulated rather than the pump rate, the conventional relaxation resonance frequency limit to the laser modulation bandwidth can be circumvented. The modulation response is limited only by the coupler. Although CMLs are best suited to microcavities, as a proof-of-principle, a coupling-modulated erbium-doped fiber laser is modulated at 1 Gb/s, over 10000 times its relaxation resonance frequency.