Experimental analysis of temperature dependence of oscillation wavelength in quantum-well FP semiconductor lasers

Abstract

We experimentally evaluated the temperature dependence of the oscillation wavelength in 1.3-/spl mu/m GaInAsP-InP strained multiple-quantum-well (MQW) semiconductor lasers compared to bulk lasers. The temperature dependence of the oscillation wavelength can be characterized by two newly introduced coefficients /spl alpha//sub 1/ and /spl alpha//sub 2/ which are the gain peak wavelength shift coefficients under the constant current condition and under the constant temperature condition, respectively. These two coefficients of various MQW structure lasers are the same as those of bulk lasers. This result means that the oscillation wavelength shift coefficient d/spl lambda//dT is only a function of the characteristic temperature T/sub 0/. The higher T/sub 0/ induces the large temperature dependence of the oscillation wavelength, When the characteristic temperature T/sub 0/ is equal to the characteristic temperature T/sub ltr/ of the transparency current I/sub tr/, the oscillation wavelength shift coefficient d/spl lambda//dT takes the maximum value which is determined by the thermally induced bandgap narrowing effect d/spl lambda//sub g//dT. One possibility to solve the paradox between a high characteristic temperature T/sub 0/ and the small temperature dependence of the oscillation wavelength is the introduction of the temperature-independent leakage current.