Radiative recombination rate measurement by the optically pumped variable stripe length method

Using the optically pumped variable stripe length technique we demonstrate that, through calibration of measured spontaneous emission spectra, it is possible to determine the total radiative recombination rate for a gain material as a function of the intrinsic quasi-Fermi level separation. Specifically we compare the room temperature optical characteristics of a self-assembled InP/GaInP quantum dot material measured using both optical and electrical pumping. The comparison reveals good agreement between gain and emission spectra measured with the two techniques, for the same inversion, from which we conclude that the carrier distributions in each case are equivalent. The results demonstrate that the optically pumped experiment can provide a good measure of the overall radiative efficiency

InP quantum dot mode-locked lasers and materials studies

InP/GaInP quantum dot laser structures exhibiting broad optical gain spectra suitable for mode-locking have been demonstrated. Two-section narrow ridge passive mode-locked lasers were fabricated from this material. Mode-locking conditions have been investigated for devices with different cavity lengths, with maximum frequency of 15.21 GHz

Polarization dependence study of electroluminescence and absorption from InAs / GaAs columnar quantum dots

Semiconductor optical amplifiers based on InGaAs columnar quantum dots (CQDs) with different numbers of superlattice periods were fabricated and tested. The polarization dependence of the electroluminescence(EL) and absorption of such CQDs structures were measured. Compared to standard QDs a large improvement in the ratio of transverse-magnetic (TM) and -electric (TE) integrated EL was obtained in CQDs, depending on the number of stacked GaAs / InAs superlattice periods, which can be attributed to the more symmetric shape of CQDs. TM and TE resolved photovoltage absorption spectroscopy confirmed this improvement. A small spectral separation between TE- and TM-EL peaks has been observed showing that heavy and light holelike states are energetically close in these QDs

Photovoltaic modulating retroreflectors for low power consumption free space optical communication systems

an InGaAs-InAsP-GaInP asymmetric stepped quantum well structure is proposed for unbiased detection and subsequent modulation of an incident continuous wave optical signal for application in compact, retroreflective, free-space optical communication platforms. Such operation drastically reduces onboard power consumption in large-area, pixelated arrays by driving only optically activated pixels. A modelling routine involving calculations of band structure, fraction of light absorbed, and responsivity have been used to analyse structures exhibiting an asymmetric quantum confined Stark effect. The proposed structure, compared with devices following similar modelling approaches, is predicted to exhibit an unbiased responsivity of 0.004 A/W enabling single pixel detection prior to triggering modulation. The calculated photocurrent of 4μA offers adequate signal to noise against dark current when operated in a photovoltaic mode. Furthermore, the strong blueshift in the ground state transition energy calculated for the applied field results in extinction ratios in excess of 4dB for the modulated signal. These findings suggest performance enhancements at a fraction of current onboard power consumption in modulating retroreflectors for compact, free-space optical communication platforms

Degradation of III-V quantum dot lasers grown directly on silicon substrates

Initial age-related degradation mechanisms for InAs quantum dot lasers grown on silicon substrates emitting at 1.3-μm are investigated. The rate of degradation is observed to increase for devices operated at higher carrier densities and is therefore dependent on gain requirement, or cavity length. While carrier localisation in quantum dots minimises degradation, an increase in the number of defects in the early stages of ageing can increase the internal optical-loss which, can initiate rapid degradation of laser performance due to the rise in threshold carrier density. Population of the 2-D states is considered the major factor for determining the rate of degradation, which can be significant for lasers requiring high threshold carrier densities. This is demonstrated by operating lasers of different cavity lengths with a constant current and measuring the change in threshold current at regular intervals. A segmented-contact device, which can be used to measure the modal absorption and also operate as a laser, is used to determine how the internal optical-loss changes in the early stages of degradation. Structures grown on silicon show an increase in internal optical-loss whereas the same structure grown on GaAs show no signs of increase in internal optical-loss when operated under the same conditions

Monolithic growth of InAs quantum dots lasers on (001) silicon emitting at 1.55 μm

Broad-area 1.55 μm InAs quantum dots (QDs) lasers were fabricated based on monolithic growth of InAs/InAlGaAs/InP active structures on nano-patterned (001) silicon substrates. Device optoelectronic properties and materials' optical gain and absorption features were studied to provide experimental support for further optimizations in laser design

Gain in p-doped quantum dot lasers

We directly measure the gain and threshold characteristics of three quantum dot laser structures that are identical except for the level of modulation doping. The maximum modal gain increases at fixed quasi-Fermi level separation as the nominal number of acceptors increases from 0 to 15 to 50 per dot. These results are consistent with a simple model where the available electrons and holes are distributed over the dot, wetting layer, and quantum well states according to Fermi-Dirac statistics. The nonradiative recombination rate at fixed quasi-Fermi level separation is also higher for the p-doped samples leading to little increase in the gain that can be achieved at a fixed current density. However, we demonstrate that in other similar samples, where the difference in the measured nonradiative recombination is less pronounced, p doping can lead to a higher modal gain at a fixed current density

Modelling the effects of p-modulation doping in InAs/InGaAs quantum dot devices

A modelling routine has been developed to quantify effects present in p-modulation doped 1.3 μm InAs/InGaAs quantum dot laser and modulator devices. Utilising experimentally verified parameters, calculated modal absorption is compared to measurements, prior to simulation of structures under reverse and forward bias. Observed broadening and a reduction of absorption in p-doped structures is attributed primarily to increased carrier scattering rates and can bring benefit when structures are configured as optical modulators with enhancements in the figure of merit. However, increased carrier scattering limits the maximum modal gain that can be achieved for lasers. The state filling caused by p-doping only marginally reduces absorption but assists laser operation with increased differential gain and gain magnitude at lower current densities