LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE, LINEAR RESPONSE LASER

FIBER-OPTICS TECHNOLGOY FOR MODERN COMMUNCATIONS REQUIRES WIDE BANDWIDTH, LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE, PERFORMANCE ANALOG DATA LINKS. IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THESE FIBER-OPTIC SYSTEMS, PROGRESS IS NEEDED TO REDUCE THE DEMANDS ON THE OPTICAL TRANSMITTER. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE, LINEAR RESPONSE OPTICAL TRANSMITTERS WOULD ALLOW SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER COST LASERS TO BE USED IN MANY ANALOG DATA LINKS FOR VIDEO, SENSOR, AND MICROWAVE SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION AND IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE DFB LASER TRANSMITTERS. OUR APPROACH WILL DECREASE THE DISTORTIONS CAUSED BY SECOND AND THIRD ORDER HARMONICS OF A SIGNAL AND BY CROSS MODULATION WITH OTHER SIGNALS IN THE TRANSMISSION PATH, WILL ALSO SUPPRESS RELATIVE INTENSITY NOISE FROM THE LASER TRANSMITTER. BECAUSE THE LINEARITY OF LASER OUTPUT VERSUS CURRENT INPUT IS A FUNCTION OF LASER POWER FOR EXISTING LASERS, THE POWER CAN ONLY BE INCREASED BY LIMITED AMOUNT BEFORE THE INTEGRITY OF THE ANALOG LINK IS REDUCED FOR INCREASED POWER. OUR TECHNOLOGY USES AN INNOVATION IN LASER NOISE REDUCTION AND DISTORTION SUPPRESSION TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE AND EXTEND THE APPLICATIONS OF FIBER-OPTIC DATA LINKS.