Effects of lateral mode and carrier density profile on dynamic behaviors of semiconductor lasers

Abstract

Dynamic behaviors of the semiconductor lasers have been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. A single-mode rate equation, which takes account of the lateral mode profile and the carrier density profile, has been solved numerically. Effects of the carrier and lateral mode confinement have been clarified. The lateral mode deformation in lasers without a built-in mode confinement structure greatly enhances the relaxation oscillations. In lasers whose stripe width is narrower than <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\sim10 \mu</tex> m, the carrier diffusion is found to play an important role in suppressing the relaxation oscillations, especially for lasers without a lateral carrier confinement structure. On the other hand, the fraction of the spontaneous emission going into the lasing mode is significant for lasers with a lateral carrier confinement structure. The slow increase of the laser output at the transient is confirmed to be due to the carrier diffusion.