UNIT III

OPTICAL SOURCES
3.1 Optical Sources
Optical transmitter coverts electrical input signal into corresponding optical signal.
The
optical signal is then launched into the fiber. Optical source is the major component in an
optical transmitter .Popularly used optical transmitters are Light Emitting Diode (LED) and
semiconductor
Laser Diodes (LD)
Characteristics of Light Source of Communication
To be useful in an optical link, a light source needs the following characteristics
It must be possible to operate the device continuously at a variety of temperatures for
many years.
• It must be possible to modulate the light output over a wide range of modulating
frequencies. For fiber links, the wavelength of the output should coincide with one of
transmission windows for the fiber type used.
• To couple large amount of power into an optical fiber, the emitting area should be
small.
• To reduce material dispersion in an optical fiber link, the output spectrum should be
narrow.
• The power requirement for its operation must be low.
• The light source must be compatible with the modern solid state devices.
 • The optical output power must be directly modulated by varying the input current to
the device.
• Better linearity of prevent harmonics and intermodulation distortion.
• High coupling efficiency.
• High optical output power.
• High reliability.
• Low weight and low cost.

Two types of light sources used in fiber optics are light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser
diodes (LDs).

Light Emitting Diodes(LEDs)

p-n Junction
Conventional p-n junction is called as homojunction as same semiconductor material
is sued on both sides junction. The electron-hole recombination occurs in relatively layer = 10
μm. As the carriers are not confined to the immediate vicinity of junction, hence high current
densities can not be realized.
The carrier confinement problem can be resolved by sandwiching a thin layer ( = 0.1
μm) between p-type and n-type layers. The middle layer may or may not be doped. The
carrier confinement occurs due to bandgap discontinuity of the junction. Such a junction is
called heterojunction and the device is called double heterostructure.
In any optical communication system when the requirements is 1. Bit rate f 100-2—Mb/sec.
2. Optical power in tens of micro watts, LEDs are best suitable optical source.

LED Structures
Heterojuncitons:
• A heterojunction is an interface between two adjoining single crystal semiconductors
with different bandgap.
• Heterojuctions are of two types, Isotype (n-n or p-p) or Antisotype (p-n).
Double Heterojunctions (DH):
In order to achieve efficient confinement of emitted radiation double heterojunctions are
used in LED structure. A heterojunciton is a junction formed by dissimilar
semiconductors.Double heterojunction (DH) is formed by two different semiconductors on
each side of active region. Fig. 3.1.1 shows double heterojunction (DH) light emitter.
 The crosshatched regions represent the energy levels of free charge. Recombination
occurs only in active In GaAsP layer. The two materials have different band gap energies and
different refractive indices. The changes in band gap energies create potential barrier for
both holes and electrons. The free charges can recombine only in narrow, well defined active
layer side.
A double heterojunction (DH) structure will confine both hole and electrons to a
narrow active layer. Under forward bias, there will be a large number of carriers injected into
active region where they are efficiently confined. Carrier recombination occurs in small
active region so leading to an efficient device. Another advantage DH structure is that the
active region has a higher refractive index than the materials on either side, hence light
emission occurs in an optical waveguide, which serves to narrow the output beam.

LED configurations
At present there are two main types of LED used in optical fiber links
Surface emitting LED
Edge emitting LED.
Both devices used a DH structure to constrain the carriers and the light to an active layer.
Surface Emitting LEDs

In surface emitting LEDs the plane of active light emitting region is oriented perpendicularly
to the axis of the fiber. A DH diode is grown on an N-type substrate at the top of the diode as
shown in Fig. 3.1.2. A circular well is etched through the substrate of the device. A fiber is
then connected to accept the emitted
 At the back of device is a gold heat sink. The current flows through the p-type material
and forms the small circular active region resulting in the intense beam of light.

Diameter of circular active area = 50 μm

Thickness of circular active area = 2.5 μm
Current density = 2000 A/cm2 half-power
Emission pattern = Isotropic, 120o beamwidth.
The isotropic emission pattern from surface emitting LED is of Lambartian pattern. In
Lambartian pattern, the emitting surface is uniformly bright, but its projected area diminishes
as cos θ, where θ is the angle between the viewing direction and the normal to the surface as
shown in Fig. 3.1.3. The beam intensity is maximum along the normal.

The power is reduced to 50% of its peak when θ = 60o, therefore the total half-power
beamwidth is 120o. The radiation pattern decides the coupling efficiency of LED.
Edge Emitting LEDS (ELEDs)
In order to reduce the losses caused by absorption in the active layer and to make the beam
more directional, the light is collected from the edge of the LED. Such a device is known as
edge emitting LED or ELED.
It consists of an active junction region which is the source of incoherent light and two guiding
layers. The refractive index of guiding layers is lower than active region but higher than outer
surrounding material. Thus a waveguide channel is form and optical radiation is directed into
the fiber. Fig. 3.1.4 shows structure of LED

Edge emitter’s emission pattern is more concentrated (directional) providing improved

coupling efficiency. The beam is Lambartian in the plane parallel to the junction but diverges
more slowly in the plane perpendicular to the junction. In this plane, the beam divergence is
limited. In the parallel plane, there is no beam confinement and the radiation is Lambartian.
To maximize the useful output power, a reflector may be placed at the end of the diode
opposite the emitting edge. Fig. 3.1.5 shows radiation from ELED.
Features of ELED:
• Linear relationship between optical output and current.
• Spectral width is 25 to 400 nm for λ = 0.8 – 0.9 μm.
• Modulation bandwidth is much large.
• Not affected by catastrophic gradation mechanisms hence are more reliable.
• ELEDs have better coupling efficiency than surface emitter.
• ELEDs are temperature sensitive.

Usage :
1. LEDs are suited for short range narrow and medium bandwidth links.
2. Suitable for digital systems up to 140 Mb/sec.
3. Long distance analog links
Light Source Materials
The spontaneous emission due to carrier recombination is called electro luminescence. To
encourage electroluminescence it is necessary to select as appropriate semiconductor
material. The semiconductors depending on energy bandgap can be categorized into
Direct bandgap semiconductors.
Indirect bandgap semiconductors.
Some commonly used bandgap semiconductors are shown in following table 3.1.1
Semiconductor Energy bandgap (eV) Recombination Br (cm3 /
sec)
GaAs Direct : 1.43 7.21 x 10-10
GaAs Direct : 0.73 2.39 x 10-10
InAs Direct : 0.35 8.5 x 10-11
InSb Direct : 0.18 4.58 x 10-11
Si Indirect : 1.12 1.79 x 10-15
Ge Indirect : 0.67 5.25 x 10-14
GaP Indirect : 2.26 5.37 x 10-14
Table 3.1.1 Semiconductor material for optical sources
Direct bandgap semiconductors are most useful for this purpose. In direct bandgap
semiconductors the electrons and holes on either side of bandgap have same value of
crystal momentum. Hence direct recombination is possible. The recombination occurs within
10-8 to 10-10 sec.
In indirect bandgap semiconductors, the maximum and minimum energies occur at different
values of crystal momentum. The recombination in these semiconductors is quite slow i.e. 10-
2 and 10-3 sec.
The active layer semiconductor material must have a direct bandgap. In direct bandgap
semiconductor, electrons and holes can recombine directly without need of third particle to
conserve momentum. In these materials the optical radiation is sufficiently high. These
materials are compounds of group III elements (Al, Ga, In) and group V element (P, As, Sb).
Some tertiary allos Ga1-x Alx As are also used.

Emission spectrum of Ga1-x AlxAs LED is shown in Fig. 3.1.6.

The peak output power is obtained at 810 nm. The width of emission spectrum at half
power (0.5) is referred as full width half maximum (FWHM) spectral width. For the
given LED FWHM is 36 nm.
The fundamental quantum mechanical relationship between gap energy E and
frequency
v is given as

where, energy (E) is in joules and wavelength (λ) is in meters. Expressing the gap energy (Eg)
in electron volts and wavelength (λ) in micrometers for this application.

Different materials and alloys have different band gap energies

The bandgap energy (Eg) can be controlled by two compositional parameters x and y,
within direct bandgap region. The quartenary alloy In1-x Gax Asy P1-y is the principal material
sued in such LEDs. Two expression relating Eg and x,y are –
Example 3.1.1 : Compute the emitted wavelength from an optical source having x = 0.07.
Solution : x = 0.07

Eg = 1.513 eV
now

Example 3.1.2 : For an alloy In0.74 Ga0.26 As0.57 P0.43 to be sued in Led. Find the
wavelength emitted by this source.

Solution : Comparing the alloy with the quartenary alloy composition. In1-x Gax As P1-y it is
found that
x = 0.26 and y= 0.57
Eg = 1.35 – 0.72 y + 0.12 y2
Using
Eg = 1.35-(0.72 x 0.57) + 0.12 x 0.572
 Eg = 0.978 eV
now

Quantum Efficiency and Power

The internal quantum efficiency (ηint) is defined as the ratio of radiative recombination rate
to the total recombination rate.

Where,
Rr is radiative recombination rate.
Rnr is non-radiative recombination rate.

If n are the excess carriers, then radiative life time, and non-radiative life time,

The internal quantum efficiency is given The recombination time of carriers in active region is
τ. It is also known as bulk recombination life time.
Therefore internal quantum efficiency is given as –

If the current injected into the LED is I and q is electron charge then total number of re
combinations per second is –

Optical power generated internally in LED is given as –

 Not all internally generated photons will available from output of device. The external
quantum efficiency is used to calculate the emitted power. The external quantum efficiency is
defined as the ratio of photons emitted from LED to the number of photons generated
internally. It is given by equation

The optical output power emitted from LED is given as –

Example 3.1.3 : The radiative and non radiative recombination life times of minority
carriers in the active region of a double heterojunction LED are 60 nsec and 90 nsec
respectively. Determine the total carrier recombination life time and optical power generated
internally if the peak emission wavelength si 870 nm and the drive currect is 40 mA.

Solutions:
Given : λ = 870 nm 0.87 x 10-6 m
τr = 60 nsec.
τnr = 90 nsec.
I = 40 mA = 0.04 Amp.
i) Total carrier recombination life time:

ii) Internal optical power

iii)

iv)

Example 3.1.4 : A double heterjunciton InGaAsP LED operating at 1310 nm has radiative
and non-radiative recombination times of 30 and 100 ns respectively. The current injected is
40 Ma.
Calculate – Bulk recombination life time. Internal quantum efficiency Internal power level.

Solution : λ = 1310 nm = (1.31 x 10-6 m)

τr = 30 ns
τnr = 100 ns
i) I = 40 MA – 0.04 Amp.
Bulk Recombination Life time (τ) :

Internal quantum efficienty (ηint)

Internal power level (Pint) :

Advantages and Disadvantages of LED

Advantages of LED
ii) Simple design.
iii) Ease of manufacture.
iv) Simple system integration.
v) Low cost.
 vi) High reliability.

Disadvantages of LED
1. Refraction of light at semiconductor/air interface.
2. The average life time of a radiative recombination is only a few nanoseconds, therefore
3. Modulation BW is limited to only few hundred megahertz.
4. Low coupling efficiency.
5. Large chromatic dispersion.

Comparison of Surface and Edge Emitting LED

LED type Max. modulation freq. (MHz) Output power (mW) Fiber coupled power
Surface emitting 60 <4 < 0.2
Edge emitting 200 <7 < 1.0

Injection Laser Diode (ILD)

The laser is a device which amplifies the light, hence the LASER is an acronym for light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
The operation of the device may be described by the formation of an electromagnetic
standing wave within a cavity (optical resonator) which provides an output of monochromatic
highly coherent radiation.