Matricial techniques in the analysis of DFB laser structures

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to develop simulation tools for the analysis of modified structures of distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes adequate for single longitudinal mode (SLM) operation.Design methodology approach - The paper uses matricial techniques: the transfer matrix method (TMM). When compared to the eigenvalue approach, the matricial techniques are more general and flexible and hence are especially adequate to deal with the analysis and structural design of DFB laser diodes. In this work, the author makes a general description of the TMM, enhancing its importance with some applications by considering the threshold and above-threshold analysis of a modified DFB laser structure.Findings - The increasing demands on laser performance, mainly in the area of optical communication systems, have lead to the fabrication of more-and-more complex structures. In viewing the development of the associated technology, the importance of the simulation tools revealed of crucial importance.Originality value - The simulation model used in this work has been described in other works of the author. In the present analysis a general description of the TMM was implemented, summarizing the results of previous studies for the threshold and above-threshold regimes of modified DFB laser structures specially designed to show SLM operation.