Impact of intraband relaxation on the performance of a quantum-dot laser

Author

Markus, Alexander ; Chen, Jianxin X. ; Gauthier-Lafaye, Olivier ; Provost, Jean-Guy ; Paranthoen, C. ; Fiore, Andrea

Author_Institution

Ecole Polytechnique Fed. de Lausanne, Inst. of Quantum Electron. & Photonics, Lausanne, Switzerland

Volume

9

Issue

5

fYear

2003

Firstpage

1308

Lastpage

1314

Abstract

Measurements on 1.3-μm quantum-dot lasers are presented that reveal a number of interesting effects. 1) At high bias, a second lasing line appears, corresponding to the excited state transition. 2) The linewidth enhancement factor increases dramatically above threshold. 3) The modulation performance is degraded when the second lasing line appears. A comprehensive numerical model is developed to explain this behavior. We attribute it to incomplete gain clamping above threshold. This is caused by a combination of the finite intraband relaxation time and the limited density of states.

Keywords

carrier relaxation time; electroluminescence; electronic density of states; excited states; infrared spectra; laser theory; optical modulation; quantum dot lasers; semiconductor quantum dots; 1.3 mum; comprehensive numerical model; density of states; excited state transition; finite intraband relaxation time; incomplete gain clamping; intraband relaxation; lasing line; linewidth enhancement factor; modulation performance; quantum dot laser performance; Clamps; Degradation; Equations; Laser excitation; Laser modes; Numerical models; Photonics; Quantum dot lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Spontaneous emission;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTQE.2003.819494

Filename

1263967