PART C- Lasers and light

emitting diodes

LESSON C3: Lasers

A phenomenological approach
to diode lasers
1
References for part C

• Chapter 1: Introduction (lesson C1)

and ingredients (past lesson B3)

• Chapter 2: A phenomenological
Approach to diode lasers (lesson
C2)

2
Goals of this lesson
• Laser principle: laser round trip condition and definition of laser threshold condition

• Overview of the laser diode structures and definition of volume of photons and volume
of carriers

• Definition of the rate equation model for laser diodes

• We will apply this model to:

- calculate laser CW performance
- calculate laser modulation response to direct current modulation

3
Laser principle
 Structure of laser diode

 Laser round trip condition

 Cavity longitudinal modes

 Laser threshold condition

 Laser rate equations

4
Structure of laser diode

5
Structures for laser diodes:
Buried waveguide grown on InP substrate=> Photon confinement
Energy diagram

InGaAs P lattice
Refractive index profile
matched InP z n1
n2 n3
InP substrate

Intensity of the electric field of

the guided TE mode
InP at room T: Eg=1.35eV n2,3=3.17 at 1.55um
InGaAsP (lattice matched) at room T: Eg=0.8eV; n1= 3.5

6
We add now doping and metallization

x Along the axis indicated in

blue in the figure, we have a
z double hetero-structure and
a p-i-n junction because the
y core region is not doped

7
Laser structure with ridge waveguide

x w: 3-5 um
Typical length:
z 300um to 1mm

Typical width w:
3-5 um

8
Qualitative Band diagram with forward bias of
the p-i-n junction

=> Junction voltage

If (as shown in this figure) the separation between quasi Fermi (EFc-EFv) levels is higher than the energy gap Eg of the intrinsic region,
we can reach the population inversion in the intrinsic region and we have positive gain (ie: stimulated emission of photons exceeds
9
the photon absorption).
QW separate confinement hetero-structure
Waveguide core =>
photon confinement Separate
confinement
Quantum well => carrier hetero-structure
confinement

Electric field profile of the TE

fundamental guided mode

14
Laser principle
Come funziona un oscillatore?

15
Simple laser diode structure
Transversal cross section
Longitudinal cross section r1 and r2 are two
I: current injection to have g>0 reflectors  we
create a cavity
x in the active optical waveguide
z
y
r2 r1
p
i
n

Intensity profile of the x- direction

fundamental TE guided optical
mode of the active waveguide Z- direction

16
Laser can be understood with an oscillator model
The laser is an oscillator I: current injection to have g>0
in the active optical waveguide

No input signal  zero + or Gej

- + rsp 1-r21
p

r2 r1 i
n
1-r22 Gej + r
sp r2 r1

Z- direction
rsp is the additional noise due to spontaneous emission. It G: is the gain that the optical guided mode achieves propagating forward
is necessary to start the oscillation or backward in the waveguide

Φ: it is the phase variation that the optical guided mode acquires

propagating forward or backward in the waveguide

17
Definitions
• g: material gain (amplification of the power)

• Γg: modal gain amplification of the power of the guided mode

• Γg/2: modal gain  amplification of the field of the guided mode

• <αi>: modal loss attenuation of the power of the guided mode due to various physical effects
such as scattering loss, absorption in the cladding etc..

• <αi>/2: modal loss attenuation of the field of the guided mode

• gnet= Γg- <αi>: net modal gain  net amplification (if gnet>0) or attenuation (if gnet<0) of the power
of the guided mode

• gnet/2: net modal gain, net amplification of the field of the guided mode
18
 Transversal profile of the TE guided mode of

Laser round trip condition the active waveguide

Electric field of the TE

guided mode of the
Complex propagation constant of the TE
active waveguide guided mode of the active waveguide

p
i
n
r2 r1

z=0 z=La

Phase condition Gain condition

19
Phase condition and cavity longitudinal modes

20
Problem: calculate the wavelength separation between two
longitudinal modes m and m+1
We start writing the phase
difference between two
adjacent cavity longitudinal
modes

Example:
La=500 μm, ng=3.3
λ=1.55 μm  FSR=0.7nm

21
Gain condition

22
Understanding laser threshold
• Among the several cavity longitudinal modes, there is only one, or just few modes, that satisfy the laser
threshold condition. When the laser threshold is reached, the gain does not increase with current anymore.
The gain is clamped at threshold.

23
 Lasing wavelength
and laser spectrum
• The wavelength that satisfies the
cavity round trip condition (both
phase and gain condition) is the
lasing wavelength or the lasing Spectrum above threshold
mode.

• When the laser emits only one

single wavelength is indicated as Spectrum below
single mode laser. threshold

• The laser is a coherent light source

Threshold current 24
Comparison: LED versus Laser
Laser
LED

25
Summary slide

• The laser emission starts when the current is high enough such that
the gain can compensate the cavity and mirror loss. This gain is the
threshold gain. The lasing wavelength will be the one of the
longitudinal cavity mode closer to the peak gain.

• We will write phenomenological rate equations to calculate the

threshold current and the output power of the laser.

26
Laser structures:
• Edge emitting lasers

• Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting lasers

• Definition of volume of carriers and volume of photons

27
Edge emitting and Vertical Cavity Lasers
Practical diode lasers come in two basic varieties: those with in-plane cavities and those with vertical cavities.
The in-plane (or edge-emitting) types have been in existence since the late 1960s, whereas the vertical cavity
(or vertical-cavity surface-emitting-laser–VCSEL for short) types have been viable only since about 1990.
Feedback for the in-plane type can be accomplished with a simple cleaved-facet mirror; however, for vertical-
cavity lasers a multilayer reflective stack must be grown below and above the active region for the necessary
cavity mirrors. The figure below illustrates both types.
Top metal contact
Top metal contact x
Aperture to get
light out

28
In-plane or edge emitting laser

x axis: it is the p-i-n junction or direction of the

growth of the epitaxial layers

y axis is the lateral direction; in the example

the waveguide core is the x-y transversal
section indicated in red

Z axis is the waveguide direction: guided mode

in the red core propagates in the z direction.

29
Vertical cavity laser

x axis: it is the p-i-n junction or growth direction

Y-Z plane is the plane of light confinement in the transversal

direction  the core is the cross-section indicated in red. We
have a circular waveguide core as in optical fibers

Guided mode in the core propagates in x direction

Active region (where carriers are confined) is indicated in

green.

30
 Laser structures (II):
• Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs)

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

(VCSELs) were introduced commercially
by Honeywell in 1996. Since then, they
have been used in many practical
applications, including laser mice
x
(optical tracking), laser printing, gesture
z recognition, solid-state laser pumping,
and—most significantly—in short-reach
y optical fiber links for data
communications.

Volume of carriers:
V=NQW·dQW·π·r2
25 November 2014, SPIE Newsroom. DOI: 10.1117/2.1201411.005689 31
 Edge emitting lasers versus VCSELs
VCSELs Figure . (a) In a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser
(VCSEL) structure, the light propagates perpendicular to
x the epitaxial layers and exits the top mirror stack in a
circular beam.
z
(b) By contrast, in an edge-emitting structure, the light
y propagates along the epitaxial layers and exits through
the cleaved facets in a high-diverging elliptical beam.

Edge emitting
x

32
Esercizio
1. Calcola FSR per un laser in-plane di tipo Fabry-Perot (lungo 300 um e con ng=3.5) che emette alla
lunghezza d’onda di 1.5um.
Soluzione FSR=1nm

2. Confronta il FSR trovato con con la larghezza delle curve di guadagno calcolate nel LAB1-problema 2

3. Calcolare il FSR di un VCSEL la cui cavità ha una lunghezza equivalente di 10um (assumere stesso ng e
stessa lunghezza d’onda di emissione). Confrontare il FSR con quello ottenuto al punto 1 e con la larghezza
delle curve di guadagno trovate nel LAB1-Problema 2.
Soluzione FSR= 32.14 nm

33
Definition of Volume occupied by the carriers:
• Example of typical Edge emitting (or in-plane) laser diode with ridge waveguide and MQW
active region Fig.2- band diagram along x axis

Fig.1- Ridge laser structure

Multi Quantum Well

dQW

x
Electric field profile of the TE
fundamental guided mode

Volume of carriers: it is the volume occupied by electrons and

holes
x
V=NQW·dQW·w·L 34
Definition of Volume occupied by the photons:
Vp
We see in Fig.2 of slide 43, that the thickness of the core of the optical waveguide (indicated by the blue
arrow) is different from the thickness of the active region (given by the total thickness of the quantum wells).
Therefore the “volume” occupied by the optical guided mode (ie: by the photons) is different respect to the
volume occupied by the carriers (electrons and holes) which are almost trapped in the quantum wells.

We define Vp as the volume of photons:

Where deff and weff are the effective thickness and width of the waveguide in the growth (x-direction) and transversal (y-
direction) direction respectively.

35
Rate equation model for laser
diodes

36
Laser rate equations: carrier rate equation

Rate of carrier loss due to stimulated emission

37
From lesson B2: Gain coefficient and stimulated emission
We have calculated in lesson B2 how the gain coefficient depends on the stimulated emission rate.

vg

This is the expression for W12=W21 in the case ω= ωa

 Stimulated emission rate per unit of volume Vp
• This rate is the rate of photon generation in the volume Vp
• In lesson B2, we have introduced the definition of stimulated emission rate and from that one we
have introduced the definition of gain.
• Assuming the gain g is known (for example measured), we can write the stimulated emission rate as:

R’st=
• Np is the photon density (at the lasing wavelength) per unit of volume in Vp
• The volume occupied by the photons overlaps with the gain region for a fraction equal to Γ; therefore
the optical confinement factor enters in the stimulated emission rate
• R’st is therefore the rate of photon generation per unit of volume in Vp

• Important note: Γ is here the optical confinement factor in the active region that might be smaller
than the waveguide core. For example if the active region is MQW, Γ is the optical confinement factor
in the are occupied by the QWs. 39
40
Rate of carrier loss per unit of volume V due
to stimulated emission

41
42
43
 Photon rate equation

Photon generation due to spontaneous emission. Photon loss due to:

- Waveguide internal loss
βsp is the fraction of photons emitted by spontaneous - Facet loss
emission at the wavelength of Np and coupled with the => τp is the photon life time
fundamental TE guided mode.

βsp is very small 10-5-10-4

44
Photon lifetime: τp (I)
• In the absence of generation terms, the photons decay exponentially
with a decay constant equal to τp . That is:

Np (t ) = Np (0)e−t/τp

• At threshold and neglecting the spontaneous emission we have:

45
Summary: laser rate equations

46
 Next lessons =>
• Solution of the rate-equations:

- Lesson C4: steady-state solution => laser CW performance=>

- Lesson C5: current modulation of the laser => IM and FM

response

laser noise => Relative Intensity noise and laser

optical linewidth

47