Performance Analysis on a Dual External Cavity Tunable Laser ECTL Source

Ahmed Fawzy^1*, Osama M. El-Ghandour², Hesham F. A. Hamed¹

¹Department of Electrical Engineering, Minia University, Minia, Egypt.
²Department of Electronics, Communications and Computer Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/jemaa.2015.74015                

Abstract

This paper presents the diffraction effects on the performance of a dual external cavity tunable laser source, whose external cavities are constructed by micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). One of the main problems in these structures is the optical diffraction as the emitting surface of the laser diode is usually quite limited in the transverse directions. The emitted beam diffracts rapidly in the air and only a small amount of light is coupled back to the source that usually limits the tuning range of the source. Device characteristics such as tuning range, wavelength shift and sensitivity are evaluated. New expression is used and multiple reflections inside external cavities are considered. The simulation results have shown that single external cavity has limited tuning range. It is shown that multiple reflections have significant effect in our model. To get a better engineering for the dual ECTL dimensions, diffraction effects must be taken into account.

Keywords

External Cavity Laser, Tunable Laser, MEMS, Optical Diffraction

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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