Emission-line broadening of current tunable InAsSbP/InAsSb/InAsSbP heterostructure lasers

Abstract

The dependence of emission-line broadening on the drive current was studied at 50–80 K for tunable InAsSbP/InAsSb/InAsSbP double heterostructure lasers operating in the 3.3–3.4 µm spectral region. For a small increase of the injection current I over the threshold current Ith, the line width depends on the I-Ith difference hyperbolically, in accordance with the Schawlow-Townes and Henry theories that assume a homogeneous distribution of the nonequilibrium carrier concentration across the resonator width. With the current raised to (3–4)Ith, line narrowing ceases and the line starts to broaden with increasing current. The observed line broadening is explained by the effect of the nonequilibrium carrier concentration gradient between the middle of the resonator and its edges. In tunable lasers, this gradient increases with current, the lasing wavelength simultaneously decreasing. The minimal width of the lasing line is 10–20 MHz.