Effects of structural parameters on the external optical feedback sensitivity in DFB semiconductor lasers

External optical feedback sensitivity in distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers is analyzed with special attention to phase-shifted and complex-coupled lasers. The effects of various structural parameters such as coupling strength, facet reflectivity, and corrugation phase angle on external optical feedback sensitivity are studied. The /spl lambda//4 phase-shifted index-coupled DFB laser exhibits low external optical feedback sensitivity for large index-coupling coefficient and high facet reflectivity. Pure gain-coupled DFB lasers perform better than the phase-shiftless uniform index-coupled DFB lasers but worse than /spl lambda//4 phase-shifted index-coupled lasers with high coupling strengths. External optical feedback sensitivity of complex-coupled lasers depends significantly on the index-to-gain coupling ratio, the phase between the index and gain gratings, and the total coupling.