Weng W. Chow Stephan W. Koch Semiconductor-Laser Fundamentals Physics of the Gain Materials With 132 Figures and 3 Tables Springer Berlin Heidelberg New tok Barclona Hong ong London Milan B) spri Paris ringer Singapore y Pring’ TokyoDr. Weng W. Chow Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, us Professor Dr. Stephan W. Koch Piilipps-Uaiversti Marburg, Fachbereich Physik und Wissenschaliches Zentrum fr Materilwisenschaften Mainzergasse 33 Dessona Marburg Germany ISBN 3-540-64166-1 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York Library of Congres Cataloging. in-Publication Data. Chow, W.W (Weng Ws 1948 — Semiconductor laser fundamental: physis ofthe gai materials /W.W. Chow, SW. Koch p.m. Includes bibliographical references and inde ISBN y-540-sqo6- (hardcover: alk paper) 1, Semiconductor lasers. I. Koch, S. W, (Stephan W.) Qc685 s5S45C45. 199 aaLyOdert 99-1674 “This work i subject to copyright All ights ar reserved, whether the whole or part ofthe materia is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of usrations, recitation, broad ‘casting, reproduction on microfilm or in anyother way, and storage in deta banks. Duplication of this publication or pars thereo is peemitted oa unde the provisions ofthe German Copyright Law ‘of September 9,195 in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlsg, Violations ar lable for prosection under the German Copyright Law. ‘© Springer-Verlag Herln Heidelberg 999 Printed n Germany ‘The use of general descriptive names, eistered names, trademarks, tin this publication doesnot Imply even in the absence of pec statement, that such names ate exempt rom the relevant pr tective laws and regulations and therefore fee for general use. ‘ypeseting: Data conversion by LE-THX Jelonek Schmidt & WBekler GbR, Leipig Coter design: design c-producion GmbH, Heidelberg Computer to fm: Saladruck, Belin Binding Buhbindere Loderite & Baver, Belin SPIN: 10667935 s4/st4s-543210~ Printed on acd-sree paper To our parents, Ho Yin Hong, Hildegard and Friedrich Koch and to Ruth and RitaPreface Since Fall of 1993, when we completed the manuscript of our book “Semi- conductor-Laser Physics’ [W.W. Chow, S.W. Koch, and M. Sargent IIL (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994)] many new and exciting developments have taken place in the world of semiconductor lasers. Novel laser and ampli= fier structures were developed and others, for example, the VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and monolithic MOPA (master oscillator power amplifier), made the transition from research and development to production, When investigating some of these systems, we discovered instances when de- vice performance, and thus design depend critically on details of the gain imedium properties, eg, spectral shape and carrier density dependence of the gain and refractive index New material systems were also introduced, with optical emission wave- lengths spanning from the mid-infrared to the ultraviolet, Particulasly note- worthy are laser and light-emitting diodes based on the wide-bandgap gr0up-lIl nitride and II-VI compounds. These devices emit in the visible to ultra-violet wavelength range, which is important for the wide variety of optoelectronic applications. While these novel semiconductor-laser mater als show many similarities with the more conventional near-infrared systems, they also possess rather different material parameter combinations. These dif ferences appear as band structure modifications and as increased importance ‘of Coulomb effets, such that, e4, excitonic signatures resulting from the at- tractive electron-hole interaction are generally significantly more prominent in the wide bandgap systems On the theoretical side, important progress was made concerning the long- standing problem of the semiconductor laser lineshape. The solution of this problem may be obtained on the basis of a systematic analysis of cartier damping and dephasing processes. This improved level of theoretical analysis led to quantitative agreement between experimentally measured and theor- tically predicted gain/absorption and refractive index spectra for a wide variety of semiconductor-laser materials. Since it can be used directly in the engineering of laser and amplifier structures, the improved gain medium the- ory is of more than academic interest. ‘The success and usefulness of the new gain medium theory in explain- ing experiments and designing devices, combined with the complexity in implementing the calculations provided motivation for the present book,