Polarization characteristics of electroluminescence and net modal gain in highly stacked InAs/GaAs quantum-dot laser devices

Abstract

We studied the polarization anisotropy of electroluminescence (EL) and net modal gain characteristics of laser device structures containing 40 stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) layers. The electronic coupling between the closely stacked QDs enhanced the transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization component owing to the heavy- and light-hole mixing. Thereby, the [110]-waveguide devices exhibited a laser oscillation of not only the transverse-electric (TE) but also the TM component. Laser oscillation occurred at 1137 nm from the first excited state for the 300-μm-long cavity, while it occurred at 1167 nm from the ground state for the 1000-μm-long cavity. The polarization anisotropy of the EL intensity strongly depended on the injection current density. The polarized EL intensity was almost isotropic at low injection current density. As the injection current density was increased, the TE component was gradually enhanced, which resulted in a markedly TE-dominant anisotropy above the threshold current density for laser oscillation. The net modal gains evaluated using the Hakki-Paoli method also exhibited a TE-enhanced characteristic with increasing injection current density. As the EL spectra of the TE component have an inhomogeneous broadening narrower than that of the TM component, the TE-mode intensity is likely to be enhanced by the concentration of the injected carriers.