Analysis of Threshold Current and Wall-Plug Efficiency of Diode Lasers with Asymmetric Facet Reflectivity

Threshold current and differential quantum efficiency of broad contact lasers with asymmetric facet reflectivity are discussed with the purpose to reveal factors essential for optimisation of the wall-plug efficiency of such lasers. Lasers with low front facet reflectivity and short cavity often exhibit behaviour difficult to explain with a classical theory. More rigorous calculation performed in this work show that differential quantum efficiency is indeed less affected by a change of the front facet reflectivity or cavity length than predicted by such theory. These findings greatly simplify criteria for optimisation of the wall-plug efficiency of broad contact lasers with coated facets.