On the linewidth of microcavity lasers

Abstract

In a recent letter by G. P. Agrawal and G. R. Gray [Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 399 (1991)] the frequency and phase noise of vertical-cavity surface-emitting microlasers is calculated using rate equations and Langevin noise sources. In this letter we re-examine their calculations and get different results. Specifically, we predict that an increase of the spontaneous emission coupling coefficient will not necessarily lead to an increase in linewidth. It is also found that the reported ‘‘anomalous linewidth enhancement’’ is present in all lasers with a nonzero linewidth enhancement factor.