Turn-on jitter in nearly single-mode injection lasers

Computer modeling confirms recent experimental observations and shows that photon absorption and spontaneous emission cause as much as 50-60 ps jitter in the turn-on time delay of lasers with large mode-suppression ratios. Careful selection of the bias point can reduce this jitter to about 12 ps. Statistics are presented for the expected power level at fixed sampling time during the turn-on, and for the fluctuation in time delay for the laser power to rise to one-half the equilibrium power output.