Quantum design of a 1.3 μm InGaPAs semiconductor laser

Semiconductor wafer growth can now produce heterostructures of very high quality with stoichiometrically correct growth of individual monolayers. Despite significant advances in MBE and MOCVD growth technologies, a critical void has remained in predicting the performance of final packaged functional amplifier or laser devices. The lack of predictive semiconductor device design and growth monitoring capability can be traced to the extreme complexity of calculating the semiconductor optical response and radiative-nonradiative recombination rates from first principles. Considering the critical role of the above recombination processes in not only, determining gain and slope efficiency but, also all dynamic properties (modulation rates, gain switching, injection locking etc) of SOAs and SLs, it is clear that the impact of this work reaches well beyond the accurate prediction of an L-I characteristic.