Relative intensity noise of mode-locked fiber grating external cavity semiconductor lasers

The noise of hybrid soliton pulse source (HSPS) with linearly chirped Gaussian apodized fiber Bragg grating is analyzed by couple-mode equations including spontaneous emission noise when the HSPS is mode-locked. Relative intensity noise is calculated using numerical solutions of these equations. It is shown that transform limited pulses are generated over a wide tuning range around the fundamental mode-locking frequency with low spontaneous noise. However, a high noise level affects the operation of device, and therefore transform-limited pulses are not obtainable over a wide tuning range. It is also shown that noise is extremely sensitive to the RF and DC currents, linewidth enhancement factor, gain saturation parameter and spontaneous coupling factor. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.