Measuring the feedback parameter of a semiconductor laser with external optical feedback

Feedback parameter (the C factor) is an important parameter for a semiconductor laser operating in the regime of external optical feedback. Self-mixing interferometry (SMI) has been proposed for the measurement of the parameter, based on the time-domain analysis of the output power waveforms (called SMI signals) in presence of feedback. However, the existing approaches only work for a limited range of C, below about 3.5. This paper presents a new method to measure C based on analysis of the phase signal of SMI signals in the frequency domain. The proposed method covers a large range of C values, up to about 10. Simulations and experimental results are presented for verification of the proposed method. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America