Measurement and Analysis of Temperature-Dependent Optical Modal Gain in Single-Layer InAs/InP(100) Quantum-Dot Amplifiers in the 1.6- to 1.8- $\mu\hbox {m}$ Wavelength Range

In this paper, measurements and analysis of the small-signal net modal gain of single-layer InAs/InP(100) quantum-dot (QD) optical amplifiers are presented. The amplifiers use only a single layer of InAs QDs on top of a thin InAs quantum well. The devices have been fabricated using a layer stack that is compatible with active-passive integration scheme, which makes further integration possible. The measurement results show sufficient optical gain in the amplifiers and can thus be used in applications such as lasers for long-wavelength optical coherence tomography and gas detection. The temperature dependence of the modal gain is also characterized. An existing rate-equation model was adapted and has been applied to analyze the measured gain spectra. The current injection efficiency has been introduced in the model to obtain a good fit with the measurement. It is found that only a small portion ( ~ 1.7%) of the injected carriers is actually captured by the QDs. The temperature dependence of several parameters describing the QDs is also discovered. The mechanisms causing the blue shift of peak gain as the current density increases and the temperature changes are analyzed and discussed in detail.