Practical Nuances of Laser Diode Characterization: A Methods Article [Instrumentation and Measurement Systems]

Laser diode characteristics are described in several hand-books on semiconductor lasers; however, despite this abundance, to our best knowledge no handbook discusses the practical issues that may be encountered by an engineer who tries to determine the performance of a laser diode. This is why in this column we outline and discuss several physical effects that might be difficult to interpret by an inexperienced researcher or even appear un-physical. While our considerations are based mainly on 1300 nm and 1550 nm laser diodes, some of the practical insights may be useful in other spectral ranges.