Below-band-gap waveguiding behaviors of a weakly index-guided GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well laser

We report the reduced waveguiding efficiency for the signals around 1560 nm as the injection current of an GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well laser diode (lasing wavelength at 840 nm) with a ridge-loading waveguide configuration increased. This reduction trend stopped when the injection current reached the threshold condition of the laser diode. The decreased waveguide transmission and the more expanded mode profile indicated the variation of the effective refractive index gradient in the lateral dimension with injection current. This variation was due to the refractive index decrease with increasing carrier density even below band gap. A slab waveguide model was used to simulate the lateral mode profile variation with injection current. The refractive index differences between the guiding layer and claddings in the slab waveguide model provided estimates of refractive index contrasts of the laser diode at a concerned wavelength under various injection conditions.