High temperature operation of lattice matched and strained InGaAs-InP quantum well lasers

The temperature dependence of lattice matched and strained InGaAs-InP quantum well lasers operating between 1.48 and 1.56 mu m is described. Devices grown under tensile and compressive strain, with an In concentration in the range of 0.43>     

Anomalous in-plane polarization dependence of optical gain in compressively strained GaInAsP-InP quantum-wire lasers

In-plane polarization anisotropy of optical gain in compressively strained GaInAsP-InP quantum wire (Q-wire) lasers including elastic strain relaxation induced band mixing is studied. The interaction between two-dimensional (2-D) quantum confinement and elastic strain relaxation effects is found to be complex depending qualitatively also on the wire width. Additional valence band mixing due to strain relaxation has a strong influence on the polarization dependence of optical gain. In the absence of elastic strain relaxation, gain is the maximum for tranverse electric (TE) polarization with the electric field parallel to the wire axis (TE/sub /spl par//), in agreement with the existing theory. On the other hand, when strain relaxation is strong, contrary to the existing theory, valence band mixing causes the gain to be the maximum in TE polarization with the electric field normal to the wire axis (TE/sub /spl perp//). Moreover, Q-wire lasers without suppression of strain relaxation are more likely to exhibit ground-state lasing for TE/sub /spl perp// polarization. These results suggest that in the presence of strong strain relaxation, a laser cavity parallel to the wire axis would provide higher gain. Therefore, the appropriate orientation of the laser cavity in strained GaInAsP-InP Q-wire lasers should be decided after carefully studying the polarization dependence of gain. Our calculation also shows that strong strain relaxation causes in-plane polarization anisotropy to show complex, nonmonotonic dependence on the wire width. Consequently, in such structures, in-plane polarization anisotropy may not be regarded as a direct measure of 2-D confinement effects.     

AlGaInP/GaInAs strained quantum well lasers

AlGaInP cladding layers have been applied for the first time to GaInAs strained quantum well lasers oscillating around 0.98 mu m. The device has lower threshold current and larger T/sub 0/ than a device with GaInP cladding layers. This was expected from a larger bandgap difference between active and cladding layers.<>     

Linewidth enhancement factor in strained quantum well lasers

The linewidth enhancement factor α of strained quantum-well lasers is analyzed by the k-p perturbation method using the effective-mass approximation. It is found that the α factor in a strained In_0.80Ga_0.20As/InP quantum-well (QW) laser with 1.9% biaxial compression is less than 1.5. For a strained QW laser with p-type modulation doping (MD) of 5×10 ¹⁸ cm^-3, the α factor is as small as 0.8. It is also demonstrated that the spectral linewidth and wavelength chirping in the strained MD QW laser are significantly less than those in conventional bulk and QW lasers     

Well width dependence of gain and threshold current in GaAlAs single quantum well lasers

The optical gain of single quantum well GaAs/GaAlAs laser diodes is studied theoretically. The model uses a nok-selection rule and Fermi statistics to obtain the gain coefficient expression. Gain-current characteristics are then reported and allow comparison of structures with well widths between 50 and 400 Å. Comparison is also made to previous models which use a strictk-selection rule. Then theoretical threshold current densities are calculated for typical single quantum well lasers where the optical confinement is performed using a five-layer slab waveguide. They are shown to be relatively insensitive to the well width as long as Lzis larger than 80 Å. Comparison between two different structures shows that optical confinement plays a critical role for optimizing the threshold Current and should be carefully studied, especially if thek-selection rule is relaxed.     

Threshold current of 670-nm AlGaInP strained quantum well lasers

By means of gain-current calculations we have examined the factors which determine the threshold current of compressively strained Ga_x In_1-xP/AlGaInP quantum well lasers for the various well width/composition (x) combinations which give a transition wavelength of 670 nm. In addition to valence band modifications we find that the increasing depth and decreasing width of the well are important in decreasing the current as the strain increases. We reveal the important role of well width fluctuations in devices with high compressive strain     

Frequency modulation locking in 980 nm strained quantum well lasers

The fundamental and second-harmonic spectral characteristics of frequency modulation locking have been observed in strained-layer InGaAs quantum well Fabry-Perot ridge-waveguide lasers emitting at 980 nm.<>     

Anomalously high damping in strained InGaAs-GaAs single quantum well lasers

Measurements of the relative intensity noise spectra of strained, single-quantum-well, separate-confinement-heterostructure (SCH) InGaAs-GaAs lasers indicate that their frequency response is strongly damped. The ratio of the damping rate to the square of the resonance frequency is k=2.4 ns. This intrinsically limits the 3-dB modulation bandwidths of these lasers to about 4 GHz, negating the predicted increase in modulation bandwidth due to the large differential gain often associated with quantum-well devices. The damping behavior of these lasers is inconsistent with previous predictions of damping in bulk lasers due to spectral hole burning. A structure-dependent damping mechanism is proposed for quantum-well lasers.<>     

Ultralow threshold strained InGaAs-GaAs quantum well lasers by impurity-induced disordering

Stripe-geometry strained InGaAs-GaAs quantum well lasers were fabricated by impurity induced disordering. Threshold currents as low as 2.2 mA at room temperature continuous operation (RT CW) were obtained for uncoated lasers having 1.2 mu m wide, 215 mu m long active stripes. The authors believe that this ultralow threshold is mainly due to the very small active stripe width and the excellent electrical confinement of the laser.<>     

High temperature operation of lambda =1.5 mu m tensile strained multiple quantum well SIPBH lasers

The high temperature operation of 1.5 mu m wavelength, strained-layer multiple quantum well, semi-insulating planar buried heterostructure lasers is reported. The lasers, which are grown by low-pressure organometallic vapour phase epitaxy and which have four 1.6% tensile strained In/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As wells (thickness 8 nm), operate in CW mode up to heatsink temperatures of 140 degrees C. The CW output power at 100 degrees C is 26 mW per facet. These results are a marked improvement when compared to data reported thus far for 1.5 mu m wavelength lasers.<>     

Differential gain in bulk and quantum well diode lasers

Differential gain (g^') of bulk and single-quantum-well (SQW) lasers was determined from threshold current density and differential quantum efficiency measurements. The threshold measurement technique was used to show that g^' is a function of cavity length (L) in SQW lasers and independent of L in bulk lasers. It was found that g^' of long SQW lasers (1000 μm) is about 7×10^-16 cm² , approximately two times that of bulk lasers. At short cavity lengths (250 μm), g^' is about the same for both laser types     

Optical properties of an InGaAs-InP interdiffused quantum well

A comprehensive model is developed for the calculation of polarization-dependent absorption coefficients and refractive index of the InGaAs-InP interdiffused multiple-quantum-well at room temperature for wavelengths ranging from 1.1 to 2.4 μm. Groups III and V types of interdiffusion are considered separately. The as-grown structure is a latticed-matched In_0.53Ga_0.47As-InP structure with a well width of 60 Å. The optical transitions consist of a full quantum-well calculation together with Γ,X, and L valleys contributions and through the Kramers-Kronig transformation to link the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric functions. The results show that group-III-only interdiffusion produces compressive strain and results in a band-edge red shift and refractive index enlargement, while the tensile strain induced by group-V-only interdiffusion results in a vice verse effect. This provides a left and right tunable band edge and positive and negative index steps dependent on the interdiffusion process. A small and constant birefringence of 0.005 at around 1.55 μm can also be obtained over a 50-nm wavelength range by using group-V-only interdiffusion. These properties have strong implications in realizing a tunable and high-performance device as well as for photonic integrations     

Dependence of linewidth enhancement factor on crystal orientationin strained quantum well lasers

The linewidth enhancement factor a in strained quantum well (QW) lasers is estimated theoretically for various crystallographic directions. It is found that the a factor in a strained In_0.7Ga_0.3As-InP QW laser on a (111) substrate is less than 1.4, much lower than for conventional strained QW lasers on (001) substrates     

On carrier injection and gain dynamics in quantum well lasers

A detailed carrier dynamics model for quantum well lasers is presented. The model describes the transport of carriers using full continuity equations and the gain by rate equations for each well separately, and it also takes into account electron-hole interactions which modify the energy band structure. To this end, the model includes Poisson and Schrodinger equations. The model is solved in steady state where it yields nonuniform carrier distributions along the crystal growth axis. Dynamically, the model is solved in the time domain, yielding the evolution of carriers in time and space and highlighting a new effect, photon-assisted carrier transport. The model is also solved in the small-signal regime where the phase lag in gain between wells is determined     

Nonlinear gain effects on spectral dynamics in quantum well lasers

A theoretical analysis is presented to show how nonlinear gain affects the spectral dynamics of quantum well (QW) lasers. The results indicate that the nonlinear gain, which is enhanced by the quantum confinement of carriers, causes an increase in the linewidth enhancement factor alpha . This enhancement of alpha results in spectral rebroadening: under high power output conditions. These properties should be taken into account when quantum well lasers are designed for highly coherent lasers.<>     

Wavelength tuning in strained layer InGaAs-GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well lasers by selective-area MOCVD

Selective-area growth and regrowth using conventional atmospheric pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition is investigated for wavelength tuning in strained layer In_xGa_1-xAsGaAs-Al_y Ga_1-yAs quantum well lasers. Growth inhibition from a silicon dioxide mask is the mechanism used for the selective-area growth rate enhancement. By varying the width of the oxide stripe opening, differences in the growth rate yield different quantum well thicknesses, and hence different lasing wavelengths for devices on the same wafer. Both two-and three-step growth processes are utilized for selective-area epitaxy of strained layer In_xGa_1-xAs-GaAs quantum well active regions, with lasers successfully fabricated from the three-step growth. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy indicate that the absence of an oxide mask during Al_yGa_1-yAs growth is essential for successful device operation. A wide wavelength tuning range of over 630Å is achieved for lasers grown on the same substrate.     

Large estimated frequency response increase from deep potentialwell strained quantum well lasers

Effect of potential well depth on the maximum modulation bandwith has been analyzed for strained quantum well lasers emitting at 1.3 μm. The frequency response depends largely on the potential well depth. The maximum modulation bandwith of a deep-potential single-well SCH laser designed on a ternary substrate is estimated to be 25 GHz while that of the conventional InP based laser is 15 GHz. In a four-well case, the estimated bandwith of a laser designed on a ternary substrate is estimated to be 80 GHz     

Impurity-free intermixing in compressively strained InGaAsP multiple quantum well structures

We report on controlled band gap modification in a compressively strained InGaAsP multi-quantum well-laser structure using different encapsulating layers followed by rapid thermal processing (RTP). The structure used was designed as a 1.55 μm laser with an active region consisting of three In_0.76Ga_0.24As_0.85P_0.15 quantum wells with In_0.76Ga_0.24As_0.52P_0.48 barriers grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The heterostructure is capped with 100 nm thick InGaAs layer. Prior to RTP, the samples were coated with various dielectric layers or a thin film of low temperature (300°C) grown InP. Using a Si_xN_y film deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with a refractive index of about 2.0, quantum well intermixing (QWI) was effectively suppressed. The suppression effect was independent of the Si_xN_y film thickness for layers of 30–2400 nm. With an e-beam-evaporated SiO₂ film, QWI was enhanced and a net blue shift of about 100 nm can be achieved between the samples covered with SiO₂ and Si_xN_y after RTP at 750°C for 100 s. Furthermore, InP grown at a low temperature by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy was proved to be even more efficient in enhancing QWI. Group V interstitial diffusion is used to explain the enhanced QWI between the wells and adjacent barriers which have the same group III compositions. Two-section tunable laser operated around 1.55 μm based on this laser structure was fabricated using this technique.     

Temperature dependence of threshold current of GaAs quantum well lasers

The radiative recombination rate in a quantum well structure is calculated using a constant density of states and the k-selection rule. This calculation shows that the threshold current of a GaAs quantum well laser has low temperature sensitivity (T0 ? 330 K for T > 300 K).     

Dynamic characteristics of phase-locked multiple quantum well injection lasers

The first streak-camera measurements of the fast pulse response of phase-locked, multiple quantum well diode laser arrays are reported. The time evolution of the emission during a single pulse and averaged over multiple pulses has been measured in both the near field and far field. Single-pulse traces of the intensity emitted by individual stripes in the array exhibit strong spikes 100-200 ps in duration at a repetition period of 300-400 ps. Simultaneous recording of the single-pulse emission from adjacent emitters shows near perfect correlation between the spiking of adjacent stripes. However, the spikes are less prominent in the single-pulse emission of the entire array. Multiple pulse averages of the emission from individual stripes exhibit synchronous relaxation oscillations persisting for a few nanoseconds at gigahertz frequencies and thereafter are smooth indicating random phasing of the spikes seen in the single-emitter single-pulse emission. The time evolution of the far field suggests that phase-locking is established within 100 ps of the initiation of lasing. The evolution of the near- and far-field patterns is consistent with lasing in supermodes of the array.