Transverse mode analysis of bipolar cascade laser

Author

Dross, F. ; vanDijk, F. ; Alouini, M. ; Parillaud, O. ; de I´Isle, N.B. ; Vodjdani, N.

Author_Institution

Thales Res. & Technol., Orsay, France

fYear

2003

fDate

22-27 June 2003

Firstpage

155

Abstract

Bipolar cascade lasers (BCL) allow to increase the differential quantum efficiency (DQE) by recycling electrons and holes in multiple active regions connected in series, for instance via epitaxially stacked highly doped Esaki tunnel junctions. However, specific index and gain distribution might lead to peculiar optical field distribution. We report the transverse mode analysis of a BCL. The structure is a 9 μm wide edge emitting InGaAsP-InP BCL, consisting of two stacked active regions of four quantum wells (λ∼1.55 μm) each. The layers which separate the two gain regions are two 0.5 μm thick InP cladding layers sandwiching the highly doped InGaAsP Esaki layers. The center region of the structure is therefore composed of low index, high loss materials. The optical field behavior of this structure has been calculated using an effective index method. The simulation predicts two modes propagating into the structure, the fundamental mode, and the second-order mode. We experimentally visualized the near field figure with an infra-red (IR) camera focusing on the laser output facet.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; infrared imaging; laser beams; laser modes; quantum cascade lasers; surface emitting lasers; tunnelling; 0.5 micron; 1.55 micron; 9 micron; Esaki tunnel junction; InGaAsP-InP; bipolar cascade laser; cladding layer; differential quantum efficiency; effective index method; electron recycling; gain distribution; holes recycling; infra-red camera; laser output facet; optical field distribution; quantum well stacked active region; transverse mode analysis; Charge carrier processes; Electron optics; Indium phosphide; Optical losses; Optical materials; Optical propagation; Predictive models; Quantum cascade lasers; Recycling; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe, 2003. CLEO/Europe. 2003 Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7734-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOE.2003.1312216

Filename

1312216