A comprehensive circuit-level model of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The increasing interest in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL´s) requires the corresponding development of circuit-level VCSEL models for use in the design and simulation of optoelectronic applications. Unfortunately, existing models lack either the computational efficiency or the comprehensiveness warranted by circuit-level simulation. Thus, in this paper we present a comprehensive circuit-level model that accounts for the thermal and spatial dependence of a VCSEL´s behavior. The model is based on multimode rate equations and empirical expressions for the thermal dependence of the active-layer gain and carrier leakage, thereby facilitating the simulation of VCSEL´s in the context of an optoelectronic system. To confirm that our model is valid, we present sample simulations that demonstrate its ability to replicate typical dc, small-signal, and transient operation, including temperature-dependent light-current (LI) curves and modulation responses, multimode behavior, and diffusive turn-off transients. Furthermore, we verify our model against experimental data from four devices reported in the literature. As the results will show, we obtained excellent agreement between simulation and experiment