Subpicosecond electrodynamics of distributed Bragg reflector microlasers: Results from finite difference time domain simulations

Abstract

With advances in nanofabrication techniques leading to ever smaller and more intricate semiconductor laser structures, a detailed understanding of the electrodynamics of these micron‐scale devices is required in order to optimize their design. The finite difference time domain (FD‐TD) Maxwell's equations solver holds much promise for providing highly realistic simulations of novel microcavity lasers. We have extended the FD‐TD algorithm to include the effects of frequency‐dependent gain and gain saturation. This approach and its application to the modeling of distributed Bragg reflector microlasers is presented.