Comparative analysis of the effects of electron and hole capture on the power characteristics of a semiconductor quantum-well laser

Abstract

The operating characteristics of a semiconductor quantum-well laser calculated using three models are compared. These models are (i) a model not taking into account differences between the electron and hole parameters and using the electron parameters for both types of charge carriers; (ii) a model, which does not take into account differences between the electron and hole parameters and uses the hole parameters for both types of charge carriers; and (iii) a model taking into account the asymmetry between the electron and hole parameters. It is shown that, at the same velocity of electron and hole capture into an unoccupied quantum well, the laser characteristics, obtained using the three models, differ considerably. These differences are due to a difference between the filling of the electron and hole subbands in a quantum well. The electron subband is more occupied than the hole subband. As a result, at the same velocities of electron and hole capture into an empty quantum well, the effective electron-capture velocity is lower than the effective hole-capture velocity. Specifically, it is shown that for the laser structure studied the hole-capture velocity of 5 × 105 cm/s into an empty quantum well and the corresponding electron-capture velocity of 3 × 106 cm/s into an empty quantum well describe the rapid capture of these carriers, at which the light–current characteristic of the laser remains virtually linear up to high pump-current densities. However, an electron-capture velocity of 5 × 105 cm/s and a corresponding hole-capture velocity of 8.4 × 104 cm/s describe the slow capture of these carriers, causing significant sublinearity in the light–current characteristic.