Polarization field effects on optical gain and lasing characteristics of III-V nitride and arsenide quantum wells

George Deligeorgis; Giorgos Dialynas; Zacharias Hatzopoulos; Nikolaos Pelekanos

doi:10.1117/12.590621

28 April 2005 Polarization field effects on optical gain and lasing characteristics of III-V nitride and arsenide quantum wells

George Deligeorgis, Giorgos Dialynas, Zacharias Hatzopoulos, Nikolaos Pelekanos

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5722, Physics and Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices XIII; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.590621
Event: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices 2005, 2005, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

In this work, a systematic modeling study of polarization-induced internal field effects on the gain spectrum and threshold current density was performed. Two laser diodes of technological relevance: the In_0.2Ga_0.8N/GaN hexagonal nitride laser structures grown along the polar c-axis with internal field values up to 1.8MV/cm, and the In_0.1Ga_0.9As/Al_0.15Ga_0.85As (111)B laser structures with internal field values up to 100kV/cm were studied. The gain model is based on a self-consistent solution of Poisson-Schroedinger equations, and takes into account strain effects, free carrier screening, and the field dependence of gain and spontaneous emission rate. In the nitride case, some of our main findings are: (a) assuming a laser structure with a single In_0.2Ga_0.8N/GaN quantum well (QW) and a modal gain Γg=30cm^-1, the optimal QW width in terms of lowest current threshold is ≈3nm. (b) For a 3nm-wide QW and Γg=30cm^-1, the presence of the internal field increases the threshold current over the zero-field value by at least a factor of three. This factor increases further for higher Γg's. (c) The optimal number of In_0.2Ga_0.8N/GaN QWs in the active region of a nitride laser with cavity losses of 30cm^-1 is four, assuming homogeneous QW pumping. In the arsenide case, however, our modeling shows that in some circumstances the internal field is beneficial and can lead to a substantial reduction of the threshold current, especially for cavities with low optical losses. This reduction was confirmed experimentally, by measuring systematically lower threshold current densities in In_0.1Ga_0.9As/Al_0.15Ga_0.85As (111)B laser diodes, compared to (100)-ones, carrying no internal field.

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George Deligeorgis, Giorgos Dialynas, Zacharias Hatzopoulos, and Nikolaos Pelekanos "Polarization field effects on optical gain and lasing characteristics of III-V nitride and arsenide quantum wells", Proc. SPIE 5722, Physics and Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices XIII, (28 April 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.590621

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KEYWORDS

Quantum wells

Gallium

Semiconductor lasers

Laser damage threshold

Polarization

Laser applications

Optoelectronic devices

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