Noise in fundamental and harmonic modelocked semiconductor lasers: Experiments and simulations

Electric-field correlation measurements of fundamental and harmonic modelocked external cavity semiconductor lasers are presented. Based on these results, an empirical model of a harmonic modelocked pulsetrain is constructed. Using this model, the equivalence between the time-interleaved pulsetrains picture and the supermode picture of a harmonic modelocked pulsetrain is shown. Simulations based on the model are presented showing the key characteristics of modelocked pulsetrains in radio frequency (RF) and optical domains. The fundamental relationship between longitudinal mode linewidth and RF phase-noise corner frequency is delineated. The generated results point to fundamental limitations in timing jitter in modelocked lasers.