Intensity noise reduction in quantum dot comb laser by lower external carrier fluctuations

Abstract

This work investigates the impact of carrier noise induced by an external current source on the linewidth enhancement factor (LEF) and relative intensity noise (RIN) of a 100 GHz quantum dot fourth-order colliding-pulse mode-locked laser (MLL), driven by a normal pump with Gaussian-distributed carrier sequences and a quiet pump with sub-Poissonian-distributed carrier sequences. The results indicate that under a normal pump, the LEFs are approximately zero for reverse saturable absorber (SA) bias voltages ranging from 0 to 2.5 V, and the laser achieves a RIN as low as −156 dB/Hz. When using a quiet pump, both the LEF and RIN are reduced across all SA bias conditions, particularly at low reverse SA bias voltages. Specifically, the LEF decreases by up to 0.58 at 0 V, and the average RIN spectrum is reduced by more than 3 dB at the same voltage. This work provides a straightforward approach for the development and optimization of multi-channel light sources for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technologies with low optical noise.