Electro-optical effects of externally applied 〈100〉 uniaxial stress on InGaAsP 1.3 and 1.5 μm injection lasers

Abstract

The changes in the polarization of the emission, spectrum, and light-current (L-I) behavior of a 1.3 and 1.5 μm InGaAsP channeled substrate buried heterostructure laser and double-channel planar buried heterostructure laser under an external uniaxial compressive stress perpendicular to the junction were studied at room temperature. It was found that the TM emission (electric vector perpendicular to the junction) reached threshold even at a stress level of ∼1×108 dyn cm−2. For stress ≤4×108 dyn cm−2, the TM emission, although reaching threshold first, was found to exist only over a limited range of currents. At high currents only TE emission (electric vector parallel to the junction) was observed. The appearance of the TE emission gave rise to nonlinear L-I characteristics. When both TM and TE emissions were seen, the former occurred at a higher energy. The limited stability of TM emission with current at low stresses is explained by invoking spectral hole burning effects which reduce the gain saturation power for TM mode than the TE mode. At high stresses ≥4×108 dyn cm−2, the increased gain for TM-polarized light ensures its stability at all currents. From our results it can be concluded that to avoid TM emission, and the associated spectral changes and nonlinear L-I characteristics, the tensile stress in the plane of the active layer should be less than 108 dyn cm−2.