Band-to-band Auger recombination effect on InGaAsP laser threshold

Abstract

The band-to-band Auger recombination effect on the threshold current in an InGaAsP laser is studied theoretically. An approximation method for the calculation is derived and the Auger lifetime is obtained numerically in the framework of the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">k-p</tex> perturbation method for band structure calculation. Gain factor and radiative lifetime are calculated by using Stern's method, which involves the band tailing caused by injected carriers. Calculated carder lifetime, quantum efficiency, and threshold current density for the 1.27 μm InGaAsP laser agree well with reported experimental values. The calculated characteristic temperature T <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> and the break point temperature T <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">B</inf> are compared with experimental values for InGaAsP lasers with a variety of compositions. The comparison shows that the Auger recombination is one of the dominant effects in determining the threshold current of InGaAsP lasers.