Abstract

By now, it is well known that the low-frequency intensity noise of lasers stems mainly from the pump, as long as the overall quantum efficiency of the laser (or LED) is high. In semiconductor lasers, it has already been demonstrated that one can reduce the intensity noise using a high-impedance current source to feed the laser. In such a circuit, the injection current will be limited by the thermal Johnson noise from the source impedance. This noise level can be substantially lower than the shot noise level. Thus, sub-Poissonian light can be produced within the cavity bandwidth (or equivalently, for integration limes longer than the photon cavity lifetime).

© 1992 Optical Society of America