Chaotic Macropulse Green Laser Beam Generated by Modulating a 520 nm Laser Diode with Optical Feedback

Abstract

We describe a novel chaotic macropulse green laser designed employing the pulse modulation of a 520 nm laser diode with optical feedback. We analyze the characteristics of these chaotic macropulses, in view of effects of the feedback intensity, injection current, modulation voltage, duty cycle, and modulation frequency on the pulses, including their full width at half maximum (FWHM) values and peak side-lobe levels (PSLs). We determine an optimum feedback intensity of 11.7% based on the maximum peak optical power and the scope of the amplitude jitter of the chaotic macropulse. The optimum injection currents are approximately between 60 and 70 mA, and the modulation voltages between 2.0 and 3.0 V are limited by the radio-frequency (RF) power. We found that chaos also occurred at the bottom of the macropulse when the duty cycle was less than approximately 30%. The modulation frequencies were loaded from 4 to 20 MHz; this range was restricted by the performance of the RF input port on the laser diode mount. The range resolution of the chaotic macropulses is approximately 3 cm in seawater; it is achieved with lower power consumption than a continuous wave chaotic laser.