Semicondictor Laser

CHAPTER 13

SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
Pamela L. Derry
Luis Figueroa
Chi-Shain Hong
Boeing Defense & Space Group
Seattle , Washington

13.1 GLOSSARY
A
C c D
Dc
D␷ d deff dG dg / dN
E
Ec
Eg
En
E cn
En␷
E␷ e Fc
F␷
fc fd fo fp Constant approximating the slope of gain versus current or carrier density
Capacitance
Speed of light
Density of states for a transition
Density of states for the conduction band
Density of states for the valence band
Active layer thickness
Effective beam width in the transverse direction
Guide layer thickness
Differential gain
Energy of a transition
Total energy of an electron in the conduction band
Bandgap energy
The n th quantized energy level in a quantum well
The n th quantized energy level in the conduction band
The n th quantized energy level in the valence band
Total energy of a hole in a valence band
Electronic charge
Quasi-Fermi level in the conduction band
Quasi-Fermi level in the valence band
Fermi occupation function for the conduction band
Damping frequency
Resonant frequency of an LRC circuit
Peak frequency

13.1

13.2

OPTICAL SOURCES

fr

Resonance frequency

f␷

Fermi occupation function for the valence band

g

Model gain per unit length

gth

Threshold modal gain per unit length

H

Heavyside function

h

Refers to heavy holes

ប

Plank’s constant divided by 2π

I

Current

Ioff

DC bias current before a modulation pulse

Ion

Bias current during a modulation pulse

Ith

Threshold current

J

Current density

Jo

Transparency current density

Jth

Threshold current density

K

Constant dependent on the distribution of spectral output function

k

Wavevector

k

Boltzmann constant

L

Inductance

L

Laser cavity length

Lc

Coherence length

Lz

Quantum well thickness

l

Refers to light holes

2

Matrix element for a transition

͉M ͉

m

Effective mass of a particle

mc

Conduction band mass

mr

Effective mass of a transition

m␷

Valence band mass

N

Carrier density

N0

Transparency carrier density

neff

Effective index of