Investigation of the physical mechanisms governing the performance of OEIC-compatible p-i-n active region lateral injection lasers

Semiconductor lasers in which both contacts can be placed on the top surface of a semi-insulating substrate are natural candidates for monolithic optoelectronic integration. By releasing an additional spatial degree of freedom relative to conventional vertically-differentiated devices, these lateral injection lasers open up a number of new functionalities such gain-switching via modulation from a third terminal or capacitive modulation of carrier flow via a FET-like top-contact gate. Additional expected advantages include reduced electrical capacitance, decoupled electrical and optical designs, reduced free-carrier induced chirp, and improved injection uniformity across an MQW active region. Despite such compelling motivations, previous lateral injection efforts have been largely empirical, and have not benefited from the theoretical treatments and modeling activities which have enabled rapid progress in vertical injection lasers.