Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T16:33:38.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Application of Gain Theory to Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Weng W. Chow  and
Hans Christian Schneider
Get access

Abstract

The development of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) relies on an understanding of gain-medium physics, more so than in edge-emitting lasers. An important tool in the investigation of semiconductor gain behavior is a theory that provides a systematic account of the interaction between the laser field and the electron–hole plasma, the influence of the band structure, and the many-body effects due to Coulomb interactions among carriers. This article describes a semiclassical approach that is based on the semiconductor Bloch equations, with carrier correlation effects described at the level of quantum kinetic theory. To illustrate its application, we discuss research activities involving the development of gain media for long-wavelength VCSELs.

Keywords

many-body theoryoptoelectronic materialssemiconductorsvertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs).
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 27 , Issue 7: Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers , July 2002 , pp. 525 - 530
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Chow, W.W. and Koch, S.W., Semiconductor-Laser Fundamentals: Physics of the Gain Materials (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Sargent, M. III, Scully, M.O., and Lamb, W.E. Jr., Laser Physics (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1974).Google Scholar
3.Chow, W.W., Corzine, S.W., Young, D.B., and Coldren, L.A., Appl. Phys. Lett. 66 (1995) p. 2460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Choquette, K.D., Chow, W.W., Crawford, M.H., Geib, K.M., and Schneider, R.P., Appl. Phys. Lett. 68 (1996) p. 3689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Bastard, G., Wave Mechanics Applied to Semiconductor Heterostructures (Les Editions de Physique, Paris, 1988).Google Scholar
6.Chow, W.W., Smowton, P.M., Blood, P., Girndt, A., Jahnke, F., and Koch, S.W., Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 (1997) p. 157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Zee, B., IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE–14 (1978) p. 727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Yamanishi, M. and Lee, Y., IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 23 (1987) p. 367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Chow, W.W., Choquette, K.D., Crawford, M.H., Lear, K.L., and Hadley, R.N., IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 33 (1997) p. 1810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Harris, J.S. Jr., IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 6 (2000) p. 1145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Kondow, M., Kitatani, T., Nakatsuka, S., Larson, M., Nakahara, K., Yazawa, Y., Okai, M., and Uomi, K., IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 3 (1997) p. 719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Choquette, K.D., Klem, J.F., Fischer, A.J., Blum, O., Allerman, A.A., Fritz, I.J., Kurtz, S.R., Breiland, W.G., Sieg, R., Geib, K.M., Scott, J.W., and Naone, R.L., Electron. Lett. 36 (2000) p. 1388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Jones, E.D., Modine, N.A., Allerman, A.A., Kurtz, S.R., Wright, A.F., Tozer, S.T., and Wei, X., Phys. Rev. B 60 (1999) p. 1.Google Scholar
14.Chow, W.W., Jones, E.D., Modine, N.A., Allerman, A.A., and Kurtz, S.R., Appl. Phys. Lett. 75 (1999) p. 2891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Meyer, J.R., Hoffman, C.A., Bartoli, F.J., and Ram, L.R.-Mohan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67 (1995) p. 757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Peter, M., Winkler, K., Maier, M., Herres, N., Wagner, J., Fekete, D., Bachem, K.H., and Richards, D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 67 (1995) p. 2639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Anan, T., Yamada, M., Tokutome, K., Sugou, S., Nishi, K., and Kamei, A., Electron. Lett. 35 (1999) p. 903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Chow, W.W. and Schneider, H.C., Appl. Phys. Lett. 78 (2001) p. 4100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Chow, W.W., Spahn, O.B., Schneider, H.C., and Klem, J.F., IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 37 (2001) p. 1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Ustinov, V.M. and Zhukov, A.E., Semicond. Sci. Technol. 15 (2000) p. R41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Schneider, H.C., Chow, W.W., and Koch, S.W., Phys. Rev. B 64 115315 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Schneider, H.C., Chow, W.W., and Koch, S.W. (unpublished).Google Scholar
23.Smowton, P.M., Pearce, E.J., Ning, Y., Herrmann, E., and Hopkinson, M., in OSA Trends in Optics and Photonics (TOPS) Vol. 56: Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO 2001) Tech. Dig, postconference ed. (Optical Society of America, Washington, DC, 2001) p. 355.Google Scholar