Use of injection heterojunction lasers in fiber-optic communications systems (review)

A review is given of problems involved in using heterojunction lasers in fiber-optic communication systems, i.e., spectral and spatial matching of stripe-geometry heterojunction lasers with fiber-optic waveguides, modulation, and self-modulation. Comparative characteristics of optimal spectral bands for communication systems (0.8-0.9, 1.06, 1.3, and 1.55 $\mu m$) are presented. Descriptions are given of different types of stripe structures for heterojunction lasers and of variants of new heterojunction systems for a wide spectral range, such as $GaInPAs/InP$ and $AlGaAsSb/GaSb$, designed to optimize communication systems.