Microwave performance of optically injection-locked VCSELs

The optical injection-locking technique has been demonstrated to enhance the microwave performance of fiber-optic links based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). We report recent advances of a comprehensive study on VCSELs under ultrahigh injection-locking conditions. The performance improvements include /spl sim/20-dB increase of both spur-free dynamic range and RF link gain, a factor of 5-10 increase in resonance frequency, as well as /spl sim/20-dB reduction in laser noise.