Scaling effects on the dynamic characteristics of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)

The influence of the oxide aperture radius on the characteristics of a long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) lasing at 1550 nm is presented in this paper. While previous works in the literature mostly investigate the scaling effects of short-wavelength VCSELs. The importance of studying the effects of long-wavelength operation should not be underestimated, as it could be used in fiber optics communication to mitigate dispersion and attenuation of the channel. Using the oxide-confined VCSEL model, the dynamic operations were examined taking into account the carrier-noise, photon-noise and phase-noise, including feedback of the external cavity. Our simulations show that by reducing the oxide aperture up to a given optimal radius, an improvement in the device's characteristics can be demonstrated. Below this value, performance degradation is expected due to increased diffraction losses, reduced confinement factor and enhanced spontaneous emission.     

Influence of gain saturation and carrier dynamic models on the modulation response of quantum well lasers

The main problem for creation of optical communication systems is how quickly the light intensity can be changed under radiation from a laser diode. The modulation capability of lasers with separate confinement heterostructure depends strongly on carrier transport and gain saturation phenomena. Nonlinear gain saturation model in connection with dynamic behavior at high-frequency modulation is discussed and peculiarities of application of a new dynamic model with partial differential equation for the carrier transport in SCH region are shown.     

位移效应对量子点激光器的性能影响

从理论上分析了位移效应对量子点激光器的影响, 并推导了量子点激光器阈值电流相对变化、输出功率相对变化的位移损伤公式. 对量子点激光器进行了中子辐照实验, 观察到了阈值电流的增加. 结合实验结果确定了量子点载流子非辐射复合速率的损伤因子的表达式, 公式计算结果与实验结果符合较好, 证明了模型的正确性. 得到的公式可用于预测量子点激光器在辐射环境下的性能变化, 有着较大实际应用价值. 关键词： 量子点激光器 位移损伤 缺陷     

Low linewidth enhancement factor for InGaAsP and InGaAIAs multiple quantum well lasers

A comparative measurement is reported of the linewidth enhancement factor of bulk and multiple quantum well (MQW) long-wavelength diode lasers using the chirp halfwidth product method. Although MQW lasers provide substantially improved chirp performance compared with bulk devices, this depends considerably on the drive conditions when gain switching.     

Band structures and characteristics of InGaAs/InGaAsP strain-compensated quantum well lasers

Analysis is performed for valence band structures and some characteristics of InGaAs/InGaAsP strain-compensated quantum well lasers lattice-matched to InP substrate. The computed results show that band offsets are functions of strain compensation instead of constants; strain compensation changes the band structures and the density of states, and hence affects the optical gain and the threshold current density. Under the condition of zero net strain, the values of the well width, cavity length and relative threshold carrier density and threshold current density are determined for realization of 1.55 m wavelength emission.     

Modelling of temperature effects on the characteristics of mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

The effect of temperature on the characteristics of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade lasers operating in the mid-infrared range is theoretically investigated and compared with reported experimental results. We have included the dependence of the phonon scattering rate, linewidth variations and thermionic lifetime on temperature. It is found that the characteristics depend strongly on temperature. Our model yields threshold current densities in good agreement with the experiments. The effect of injection efficiency on the unsaturated modal gain is also considered.     

Ballistic effects and intersubband excitations in multiple quantum well structures

We have studied the transport properties of electrons in asymmetric quantum well structures upon far-infrared optical excitation of carriers from the lowest subband into the continuum. Here the photocurrent consists of a coherent component originating from ballistic transport upon excitation, and of an incoherent part associated with asymmetric diffusion and relaxation processes, which occur after the coherence has been lost. The signature of the coherent contribution is provided by a sign reversal of the photocurrent upon changing the excitation energy. This sign reversal arises from the energy-dependent interference between continuum states, which have a twofold degeneracy characterized by positive and negative momenta. The interference effect also allows us to estimate the coherent mean free path ( nm at 77 K). In specifically designed device structures, we use both the coherent and incoherent components in order to achieve a pronounced photovoltaic infrared response for detector applications.     

InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb长波长多量子阱激光器有源区的优化设计

系统地研究了波长为2.7μm的InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb多量子阱激光器中有源区的优化设计.分别用含应变势的6带KP模型和抛物带模型计算价带和导带的能带结构，并得到薛定谔方程和泊松方程的自洽解，由此计算量子阱在载流子注入时的增益谱.研究表明制约量子阱增益的主要因素不是跃迁矩阵元，而是粒子数反转程度，尤其是空穴填充HH1子带的概率.增加压应变或减小阱宽都会提高量子阱增益.前者降低了价带HH1子带空穴的平面内有效质量；后者拉大了价带子带间距，尽管它同时略微增加了空穴有效质量.这两种因素都导致价带顶空穴态     

不同掺杂类型的GaN间隔层和量子阱垒层对双波长LED作用的研究

采用软件理论分析的方法对不同掺杂类型的GaN间隔层和量子阱垒层在InGaN/GaN多量子阱双波长发光二极管中对发光光强、内量子效率、电子空穴浓度分布、溢出电流等作用进行模拟分析. 分析结果表明,p型掺杂的GaN间隔层与量子阱垒层的引入同不掺杂和n型掺杂两种类型比较,可以大大减少溢出电子流,极大地提高各量子阱内空穴浓度,提高双波长发光二极管的发光强度,极大的改善内量子效率随电流增大而下降问题. 关键词： GaN 掺杂类型 数值模拟 双波长发光二极管     

Operational and design considerations for broad area graded barrier quantum well heterostructure lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition for high power applications

Graded barrier quantum well heterostructure (GBQWH) broad area lasers have been shown to be capable of high power pulsed and cw operation. In this article, we consider several operational characteristics and design issues associated with broad area graded barrier quantum well heterostructure lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. In particular, the effect of junction heating on emission wavelength for cw device operation and the effects of various buffer layer structures on the material properties and device characteristics of GBQWH structures are addressed. Typical results for high power operation of uncoated broad area laser diodes are also outlined.     

Operational and design considerations for broad area graded barrier quantum well heterostructure lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition for high power applications

Graded barrier quantum well heterostructure (GBQWH) broad area lasers have been shown to be capable of high power pulsed and cw operation. In this article, we consider several operational characteristics and design issues associated with broad area graded barrier quantum well heterostructure lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. In particular, the effect of junction heating on emission wavelength for cw device operation and the effects of various buffer layer structures on the material properties and device characteristics of GBQWH structures are addressed. Typical results for high power operation of uncoated broad area laser diodes are also outlined.     

Carrier transport effects and dynamics in multiple quantum well optical amplifiers

The gain recovery dynamics of multiple quantum well semiconductor optical amplifiers, following gain compression caused by ultrashort optical pulse excitation, have been studied for several devices of different structures. Fast, slow, and intermediate time constants are identified. The fast component (0.6 to 0.9 ps) corresponds to cooling of the dense, inverted electron-hole plasma. The slow component (150 to 300 ps) corresponds to replenishment of carriers from the external bias supply, with the dynamics dominated by spontaneous recombination (primarily Auger) of the electron-hole plasma. The intermediate time constant (2 to 14 ps) is caused by carrier capture by the quantum wells and is structure-dependent. For most of the devices, the capture process is dominated by diffusion-limited transport in the cladding/barrier region. The variation of carrier density and temperature also affects the refractive index profile of the devices and, hence, affects the waveguiding properties. Dynamical variation of the mode confinement factor is observed on the fast and slow timescales defined above.     

Crystal orientation effects on electronic and optical properties of wurtzite ZnO/MgZnO quantum well lasers

Crystal orientation effects on electronic and optical properties of ZnO/MgZnO QW structures are investigated by taking into account the non-Markovian gain model with many-body effects. These results are compared with those for GaN-based QW structures. In a range of small crystal angles, ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have a lower internal field than GaN/AlGaN and InGaN/GaN QW structures. However, ZnO/MgZnO QW structures show a larger internal field than GaN-based QW structures at crystal angles near ${\theta =50^{\circ}}$ . The WZ ZnO/MgZnO QW structures are shown to have much larger optical gain than the GaN-based QW structures for small crystal angles. This is because WZ ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have larger matrix element and smaller effective masses than InGaN/GaN QW structures near the (0001) crystal orientation. On the other hand, in the case of the (10 ${\bar{1}}$ 0) crystal orientation, the optical gain of ZnO/MgZnO QW structures becomes smaller than that of InGaN/GaN QW structures due to the increase of the effective mass. In addition, the ZnO/MgZnO QW structures have a maximum in the optical gain near ${\theta =50^{\circ}}$ , which can be explained by the fact that the average hole effective mass increases although the matrix element at high carrier density is improved with increasing crystal angle.     

Carrier transport and its effect on the turn-on delay time in strained GalnAsP/InP multiple quantum well lasers

The effects of carrier transport on turn-on delay time in multiple quantum well lasers were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. By using rate equation analysis with two components of the carrier density inside and outside of the quantum wells, we found that carrier transport caused two important effects: one is the stationary effect of a significant reduction in carrier density in quantum wells; the other is an increase in differential carrier lifetime.As an experimental investigation, compressively strained 1.3 m GalnAsP/InP multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers were fabricated and their turn-on delay times were measured and investigated. The short-cavity buried-heterostructure lasers showed low-threshold current (2 to 3 mA) and small turn-on delay time (<200 ps) at biasless 30 mA pulse current. Although these performances are suitable for high-speed digital transmission, it was found that the carrier lifetimes derived from the turn-on delay measurement were larger for strained quantum well lasers than for conventional quantum well lasers and double heterostructure lasers. These phenomena are explained using the carrier transport model and are discussed. The solutions for further reduction in carrier lifetime and turn-on delay are discussed.     

The effects of carrier dependant nonlinear gain on quantum well VCSEL characteristics

In this paper, we present a numerical opto-electro-thermal model for studying vertical cavity surface emitting lasers operation. The model is applied to an index-guided structure with an oxide aperture and multiple quantum-wells in active layer. The interdependent process of carrier transport, heat generation and optical field are solved self-consistently using finite difference time domain in cylindrical system. The gain of quantum wells (QWs) is calculated based on the solution of Schrödinger equation considering heavy hole-light hole band-mixing effect. The calculated maximum gain versus injected carriers is fitted by a 3th order polynomial function and used in opto-electro-thermal model. The inclusion of QW maximum gain calculation for constant wavelength in the model allows us to study threshold current value and higher order transverse modes as well as their dependencies on variation of gain and refractive index induced by carrier and heat more accurately than linear gain approximation. The results show a lower threshold current compared with linear gain approximation. For injection current above the threshold, we consider the spatial hole burning, thermal lensing and self focusing effects.     

Characterisation of the influence of multi-quantum barrier reflectors within GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well lasers using near-field imaging techniques

Using a near-field scanning optical microscope, near-field photocurrent and topographic imaging has measured the effect on intrinsic electric fields and photocurrent propagation resulting from inserting multi-quantum barrier (MQB) super-lattices into quantum well lasers. Measurements on devices at two different excitation wavelengths have highlighted the sensitivity of the near-field optical technique. Strong correlations were seen in the photocurrent response of the multi-quantum barrier regions when compared with simulations made on the electric field generated within the structure. As a result, photocurrent attenuation was attributed to carrier confinement in these barrier regions when compared to a control sample. The measurements illustrate the effectiveness of the MQB, in addition to the sensitivity and power of the near-field photocurrent technique.     

Optical and continuous-wave characteristics of V-grooved quantum well wire lasers confined by a p-n junction array

Role of the side-wall quantum wells in a V-grooved quantum well wire (QWW) is briefly reviewed by temperature-dependent photoluminescence, and then continuous-wave (cw) characteristics of QWW lasers confined by a p-n junction array are reported. In terms of the effectiveness in current confinement, very high power operation (over 11 mW) and a single longitudinal mode operation up to 8mW are achieved. Room-temperature threshold currents are measured to be 32.5 mA (pulsed) and 47.8 mA (cw) for a 200 m long uncoated cavity. The current- and temperature-tuning rates of the oscillation wavelength are as low as 0.038 nm/mA and 0.17 nm/°C, respectively.     

Analysis of linewidth enhancement factor for compressively strained AlGaInAs and InGaAsP quantum well lasers

We have compared and analyzed theoretical investigation for the possibility of extreme reductions in the linewidth enhancement factor (??-factor) in strained layer quantum-well (QW) lasers between AlGaInAs and InGaAsP material. Valence band effective masses and optical gain in both types of QW lasers under compressive strain have been calculated using 4 ×?4 Luttinger?CKohn Hamiltonian. We have used Kramers?CKronig relations to calculate the refractive index change due to carrier induced. The ??-factor was up to 1.61 times smaller in AlGaInAs QW than in InGaAsP QW laser. The material differential modal gain and carrier induced refractive index change was found to be approximately 1.38 times larger and 1.15 times smaller respectively, in the previous material QW than in the latter QW laser. We also compared our results to the previously reported results for both QWs lasers.