Evaluation of high-stability optical beats in laser chaos by plasmonic photomixing
Fumiyoshi Kuwashima, Mona Jarrahi, Semih Çakmakyapan, Osamu Morikawa, Takuya Shirao, Kazuyuki Iwao, Kazuyoshi Kurihara, Hideaki Kitahara, Takashi Furuya, Kenji Wada, Makoto Nakajima, Masahiko Tani
Abstract
The stability of optical beats in a chaotically oscillating laser is compared to that of a free-running continuous-wave laser using a highly efficient plasmonic photomixer. Using a chaotically oscillating laser diode, stable optical beats are observed over an operation current range of 60-90 mA. The optical spectra are stable even with frequent mode hopping. In contrast, optical beats in a free-running continuous-wave laser are not stable compared to those of a chaotically oscillating laser, because of intermittent hopping of the laser modes. The high stability of chaotically oscillating lasers makes these lasers promising candidates for optical pump sources in terahertz time-domain spectroscopy systems.