Theoretical simulation of carrier capture and relaxation rates in quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers

Abstract

Based on Auger scattering mechanism, carrier-carrier scattering dynamics between the two-dimensional carrier reservoir (also called wetting layer, i.e., WL) and the confined quantum dot ground and first excited state in quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD-SOAs) are investigated theoretically in this paper. The scattering rates for independent electron and hole densities are calculated. The results show an ultra-fast carrier capture (relaxation) rate up to 1 ps−1, and there is a complex dependence of the Coulomb scattering rates on the WL electron and hole densities. In addition, due to the different effective mass and the level distribution, the scattering rates for electron and hole are very different. Finally, in order to provide a direction to control (increase or decrease) the input current in realistic QD-SOA systems, a simple method is proposed to determine the trends of the carrier recovery rates with the WL carrier densities in the vicinity of the steady-state.