Abstract

Over the past two decades, external cavity diode lasers have been succesfully utilized for, among others, linewidth narrowing, suppression of unwanted secondary longitudinal modes, and reduction of modulation induced frequency chirp. Although our understanding of the underlying mechanism as to the sensitivity of the diode laser subject to external optical feedback has significantly increased, many fundamental questions still remain, the answers to which are essential for explooitation and control of the complex dynamical behavior of these lasers.

© 2000 IEEE