Microscopic physics-based interactive semiconductor laser simulator

Summary form only given. Experimentally validated rigorous microscopic many-body calculations of semiconductor gain and refractive index spectra for a wide variety of quantum well structures provide the foundation on which we build a full scale space-time interactive simulation model of both low and high power semiconductor lasers. The simulation model is extremely flexible utilizing look-up tables generated for a particular QW structure with confinement barriers (GRINSCH, SCH). The ability now exists to design and optimize laser structures starting from the same level as the materials grower. We explicitly illustrate the occurrence of dynamic intensity filamentation in high power laser diodes and discuss the means to suppress such behavior using current/index profiling, cavity spoilers, flared contacts etc. As an illustration of low power instabilities, we discuss the stimulation of isolated multi-longitudinal mode beatings in the presence of an external feedback mirror, power dropouts in DFB and regular lasers and synchronization of high dimensional chaotic oscillations between a transmitter and receiver laser system.