Transverse-mode competition effects observed in the numerical simulation of transients in gain-guided semiconductor laser arrays

Author

Menendez-Valdes, Pedro ; Garmire, Elsa ; Ohtaka, Masato

Author_Institution

Center for Laser Studies, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

26

Issue

12

fYear

1990

fDate

12/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2075

Lastpage

2085

Abstract

A numerical analysis of transient turn-on in a gain-guided semiconductor laser array is presented. The self-consistent approach, valid in the strong-coupling limit, treats the array as a single waveguide laser with a transversely varying refractive index. The program first solves for the modes of this system without considering stimulated emission. The overall modal gain is then inserted into the rate equations in order to calculate a photon density; this results in a new spatial gain distribution, which in turn causes changes to the modal intensity profiles. This analysis is used to find both steady-state results and instabilities which result from mode competition. The approach is to solve instantaneous eigenvalue equations

Keywords

eigenvalues and eigenfunctions; laser modes; laser theory; refractive index; semiconductor laser arrays; gain-guided semiconductor laser arrays; instantaneous eigenvalue equations; modal gain; modal intensity profiles; mode competition; numerical simulation; photon density; rate equations; single waveguide laser; spatial gain distribution; strong-coupling limit; transient turn-on; transverse laser mode competition; transversely varying refractive index; Equations; Laser modes; Numerical analysis; Optical arrays; Refractive index; Semiconductor laser arrays; Semiconductor waveguides; Stimulated emission; Transient analysis; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.64342

Filename

64342