Behavior of threshold current and polarization of stimulated emission of GaAs injection lasers under uniaxial stress

Abstract

The effect of uniaxial pressure perpendicular to the junction on the threshold current of GaAs double-heterostructure lasers and homostructure lasers operated at room temperature was studied. The threshold either first increases with pressure up to a certain critical pressure P o and then decreases, or decreases with pressure from the beginning, depending on whether the laser is operating in a TE or a TM mode with zero pressure. In the first case, the change in the threshold current behavior at P o is accompanied by a change of modes from TE to TM. This behavior is explained by a model, taking into account the splitting of the valence bands of GaAs on application of uniaxial pressure.