The Semiconductor injection Laser

The Semiconductor injection Laser

1. Stimulated emission by recombination of injected carriers is
encouraged in the semiconductor injection Laser by the
provision of an optical cavity in the crystal structure in order to
provide the feedback of photons.

2. Advantages
 High radiance due to the amplifying effect of stimulated
emission(mW of output power).
 Narrow linewidth of 1nm or less which reduces the effects of
material dispersion.
 Modulation capabilities which extend upto GHz range.
 Relative temporal coherence which is considered essential to allow
heterodyne(coherent) detection in high capacity systems.
 Good spatial coherence which allows the output to be focused by a
lens into a spot.
The Semiconductor injection Laser
The cleaved ends of the crystal acts as partial mirrors in order to
encourage stimulated emission in the cavity when electrons are
injected into the p-type region.
The Semiconductor injection Laser

Why double Heterojunction laser?

Improved carrier confinement and thus lower current densities were

achieved using double heterojunction laser

This enabled these devices with appropriate heat sinking to be operated in a

continuous wave mode at 300 K.

Why Stripe geometry DH Laser?

Reliable CW operation of the DH injection laser and to provide further

carrier and optical confinement.
 Efficiency
• Differential Quantum efficiency - Ratio of increase in the photon output
rate for a given increase in the number of injected electrons.
Pe optical power emitted from the device
I  current, echarge on the electron hf
photon energy
Egbandgap energy expressed in eV.

• For CW semiconductor laser usually has values in the range 40 to 60 %.

• Internal Quantum efficiency

• Ranges between 50 to 100%.

 Efficiency
• Total efficiency
 Problem

Solution:
 DH Laser
The DH Laser provides optical confinement in the vertical direction.
Lasing takes place across the whole width of the device.

The sides of the cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges of the device .

Problems due to broad emission area

Difficult heat sinking

Lasing from multiple filaments in the relatively wide area
Unsuitable light output geometry for efficient coupling to the fibers.
How to overcome these problems?

By using laser structures in which active region does not extend to the
edges of the device.
Introduce stripe geometry to the structure to provide optical confinement
in the horizontal plane.
DH Laser
Stripe geometry
 Stripe geometry
In a DH stripe contact laser the major current flow through the device and hence
the active region is within the stripe.

The stripe is formed by the creation of high resistance areas on either side by
proton bombardment or oxide isolation.

The stripe therefore acts as a guiding mechanism which overcomes the major
problems of broad area device.

The output beam divergence is typically 45o perpendicular to the plane of the
junction and 9o parallel to it.

The typical stripe width may be 2 to 65 µm.

DH stripe geometry structure has been widely utilized for optical fiber
communications.
 Stripe geometry
With correct balance of guiding, provides single transverse mode operation ,
whereas the broad area device tends to allow multimode operation in the
horizontal plane.