IV.

Laser Diode (LD) or Semiconductor Laser

1

 Operation Mechanism
 Characteristics of LD
 LD Design (1): control of electronic properties
 LD Design (2): control of optical properties
 Advanced LD Structures
 Applications of LD
 Introduction to the Semiconductor Laser
2

 LASER — Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

 The Laser is a source of highly directional, monochromatic, coherent light.
 The Laser operates under a “stimulated emission” process.
 The semiconductor laser differs from other lasers (solid, gas, and liquid lasers):
 small size (typical on the order of 0.1 × 0.1 × 0.3 mm3)
 high efficiency
 the laser output is easily modulated at high frequency by controlling the junction current
 low or medium power (as compared with ruby or CO 2 laser, but is comparable to the He-
Ne laser)
 particularly suitable for fiber optic communication
 Important applications of the semiconductor lasers:
 optical-fiber communication, video recording, optical reading, high-speed laser printing.
high-resolution gas spectroscopy, atmospheric pollution monitoring.
From LED to LD: Improvement by an Optical Cavity
3
 Comparison between an LD and LED
4
 Laser Diode
 Stimulated radiation
 narrow linewidth
 coherent
 higher output power
 a threshold device
 strong temperature dependence
 higher coupling efficiency to a
fiber
 LED
 Spontaneous radiation
 broad spectral
 incoherent
 lower output power
 no threshold current
 weak temperature dependence
 lower coupling efficiency
 Stimulated Emission
5

 Stimulation emission

 The two basic requirements for a stimulated emission process to occur:

(1) providing an optical resonant cavity to build up a large enough photon field
 a very large photon field energy density (12) will enhance the stimulated emission over

spontaneous emission

(2) obtaining population inversion condition

 under the population inversion condition (n 2 > n1) the stimulated emission is to dominate over

absorption of photons from the radiation field

 Optical Resonant Cavity

 Optical resonant cavity

 parallel reflecting mirrors to reflect the
photons back and forth, allowing the
photon energy density to build up.

 The Fabry-Perot faces (cavity)

 The reflecting ends of the laser cavity
 The gain in photons per pass between
the Fabry-Perot faces must larger than
the losses (such as the transmission at
the ends, scattering from impurities
absorption, and others)

 In the semiconductor laser, optical

resonant cavity is made by cleaving.
 Cleave the oriented sample (GaAs)
along a crystal plane (110), letting the
crystal structure itself provide the
parallel faces.
6
 Resonant modes of a laser cavity

 Longitudinal modes
 determine the output-light wavelength
 Lateral modes
 leading to subpeaks on the sides of the
fundamental modes, and resulting in “kinks”
in the output-current curve.
 suppressed by the “stripe-geometry” structure

 Transverse modes
 generating “hot spots”

 suppressed by “thin active layer “ design

 Suppressing lateral and transverse mode is

necessary to improve the performance of lasers.
 Single-mode laser: the laser operates in the
fundamental transverse and lateral modes but
with several longitudinal modes.
 Single-frequency laser: the laser operates in
only one longitudinal mode.

7
 Longitudinal modes of a laser cavity

 For stimulated emission, the length L of the

cavity must satisfy the condition (for resonant):
m [ 0 / 2n ] = L or m 0 = 2 n L

 m is an integral number and  is the refraction

index in the semiconductor corresponding to
the wavelength 0 (n is generally a function of 
0)

 The separation ∆0 between the allowed

modes in the longitudinal direction is

1
0 2   dn
 o  1  0  m
 2 Ln
Since dn/d0 is very n d
 small, 0 
∆0  02 / 2Ln (for ∆m = 1)

 For typical GaAs laser of ∆ 0 = 0.94 nm,

n = 3.6 and L = 300 m, ∆  0 = 4 Å.

8
 Population Inversion (1)

 Forward biasing a p-n junction formed

between degenerate semiconductors
under high-injection condition.
 Population inversion appears about the
transition region

 The condition necessary for population

inversion is (EFC - EFV) > Eg
where EFC, and EFV are the quasi-Fermi
levels

 In the figure shows then energy

diagrams of a degenerate p-n junction
(a) at thermal equilibrium
(b) under forward bias
(c) under high-injection condition

9
 Population Inversion (2)
10

(a) incoherent (spontaneous) emission

 EFC - EFV > h > Eg
(b) laser modes at threshold
 There modes correspond to successive
numbers
of integral half-wavelengths fitted within
the cavity
(c) dominant laser mode above threshold
 h = Eg
 Carrier and Optical Confinement

 Carrier and Optical Confinement can be

obtained by using the heterostructure design
in the LD

 Carrier Confinement
 reduce the threshold current density
 laser can operate continuously at room
temperature

 Optical Confinement
 confinement factor Ƭ : the ratio of the light
intensity within the active layer to the sum of light
intensity both and outside the active layer
 = 1 - exp ( - C Ƭ n d )
Ƭ n : the difference in the reflective index
d : the thickness of the active layer
 the larger the Ƭ n and d are, the higher the  will
be
 Optical confinement provides effective wave-guide
for optical communication

11
 Homojunction and Heterojunction Laser

 Homojunction Laser
 pulse mode output

 large threshold current density

 operated at low temperature

 broad spectral width of output light

 Improvement  Heterojunction Laser

 Heterojunction Laser
(1) Single-Heterojunction Laser (SH Laser)
(2) Double-Heterojunction Laser (DH Laser)
(3) Stripe-geometry DH Laser
(4) Single quantum well (SQW) Laser
(5) Multiple quantum well (MQW) Laser
(6) Strained layer superlattice (SLS) structure

12
Double-Heterojunction (DH) Laser

13
 Threshold Current Density

 Gain (g)
 the incremental optical energy flux per unit
length

 Threshold Gain
 the gain satifies the condition that a light wave
makes a complete traveral of the cavity
without attenuation
1 1
g     n 
L R
 Ƭ is the confinement factor, α is the loss per
unit length, L is the length of the cavity, R is
the reflectance of the ends of the cavity

 Threshold Current Density (Jth)

 the minimum current density required for
lasing to occur
J 0d d  1  1 
J th   J0   ln  
 g 0  L  R 

 To reduce Jth, we can increase , Ƭ, L, R and

reduce d, α

14
 Characteristics of the DH laser

 Threshold current density vs. active layer

thickness
 The threshold current density decreases
with decreasing d, reaches a minimum,
and then increases. The increase of Jth at
very narrow active thickness is caused by
poor optical confinement.

 Output power vs. diode current

 The light-current characteristics is quite
linear above threshold.

 Temperature dependence
 The threshold current increases exponentially
with temperature  Jth ~ exp [ T/T0 ]

15
 Emission Spectra of the typical DH laser

 Emission spectra of a perfect laser

 above the threshold, the laser may

approach near-perfect monochromatic
emission with a spectra width in the
order of 1 to 10 Å.

 High-resolution emission spectra

(of a typical stripe-geometry DH laser)

 Sub-peaks, which are evenly spaced

with a separation of  = 7.5 Å, appear
in the spectra. belong to the
longitudinal modes.
 Because of these longitudinal modes,
the stripe geometry laser is not a
spectrally pure light source for optical
communication.

16
Design considerations for laser diode performance
17

 Low threshold current

 low threshold can be generated by electronic devices which can be modulated at high
speed to provide a high speed modulation in the output
(1) reducing the active layer thickness (d)
↣ Quantum-Well (~ 50 - 100 Å), Strain Quantum-Well
(2) N-doped active region
(3) Stripe geometry
 Lateral confinement
 to avoid the “kink” effect, which produces noise in the optical transmitter
 reduce the lateral dimension of the Fabry-Perot cavity
 (1) Stripe geometry (Gain-guided cavity)
(2) Buried heterostructures
 Selective Optical Cavity
 to reduce the laser linewidth
 (1) Distributed Feedback (DFB) structures
(2) Buried heterostructures
 Stripe Geometry Laser

 Using the “gain-guided cavity” to carry out the lateral

confinement
 Advantages of a stripe geometry structure
 Removing side peaks from the main modes by
suppression of the lateral mode.
 Reducing the threshold current
 less stringent demands on fabrication (because of the
smaller active volume and the greater protection offered
by isolating the active region from an open surface along
two sides)
 Fundamental mode operation is valid for all stripe
widths below 10 - 15 µm.
 Different types of stripe-geometry structure:
 oxide stripe
 implantation
 selective diffusion
 Mesa stripe
 buried heterostructures
 ridge structures

18
 Single Frequency Laser

 Single frequency lasers is desirable in the optical fiber

communication system to increase the bandwidth of an optical
signal.
 This is because light pulses of different frequencies travel
through optical fiber at different speeds thus causing pulse
spread.
 Dispersion mechanisms for a step-index fiber:
(1) intermodal dispersion
(2) waveguide dispersion
(3) material dispersion
 Dispersion effects can be minimized by using long wavelength
sources of narrow spectral width (a single frequency laser) in
conjunction with single mode fibers.
 Methods to achieve the single frequency lasers:
(1) Frequency Selective Feedback
 External Grating, Distributed-Feedback (DFB), Distributed
Bragg Reflector (DBR)
(2) Coupled Cavity
 Cleaved Coupled Cavity (C3) laser

19
 Distributed Feedback (DFB) Laser

 In periodic structures, special effects occur when the

wavelength of the wave approaches the wavelength of
the periodic structure. In semiconductor crystals, this
leads to bandgaps and Bragg reflections.

 The wavelength selective periodic grating with a

corrugated structure, made by E-beam lithography
and RIE, is incorporated into to the laser.

 The period of the grating is d = 2q /2n

B
where B is the Bragg wavelength give by

0  B 
m  1 
2 B
2

2nL
where 0 is the oscillating wavelength
 DFB lasers have been made with sawed end facets or
with antireflection coating to suppress the Fabry-
Perot modes.
 The DFB laser’ main advantage is its very small
temperature dependence.

20
 Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) Laser

 In the DBR laser, the period reflecting mirror

stack is placed outside the active lasing region.
 The advantages of the DBR lasers:
 high coupling efficiency between the active
lasing region and the passive waveduide
structures.
 the wavelength of the output light is
tunable.
 The reflective index of the stack is alterable by
current injection.
 The wavelengths that get the highest feedback
must satisfy
B = 2 q (nr1 d1 + nr2 d2)
where is a positive integer
 The values of nr1 d1 and nr2 d2 can be altered
electronically, therefore can have a certain
degree of wavelength tunability

21
 Cleaved-Coupled-Cavity (C3) Laser

 The C3 laser consists of two standard

Fabry-Perot cavity laser diodes which are
self-aligned and very closely coupled to
form a two-cavity resonator.
 Because the laser light has to travel
through an additional cavity (modulator),
the only radiation that is reinforced is at a
wavelength that resonates both in the
laser’s cavity and also in the modulator.
 The two cavities can have their currents
controlled independently and this is the
main advantage of the C3 laser.

22
 Quantum Well Laser

 If the thickness of the active region Ly is

made small enough (Ly ~ the “de Broglie
wavelength”  = h/p < 500Å, depending
on the materials for GaAs, Ly ~ 20 nm),
the carriers are confined in a finite
potential well in which the energy band
splitting into a “staircase” of discrete
levels (the quantization effect)
 E-h recombination can only occur with
“n = 0 transition” in the quantum well.
 In a quantum well (QW), a large number
electrons all of the same energy can
recombine with a similar block of holes.
 Hence, a QW laser should gives a much
narrower output wavelength, unlike the
other lasers with the bulk effect, where
recombining carriers are distributed in
energy over a parabolically varying
density of states

23
 Multiple Quantum Well (MQW) Laser

 Several single quantum wells are coupled into

a “multiple quantum well (MQW)” structure.
 The significantly reduced temperature
sensitivity of MQW lasers has been related
to the staircase density of states distribution
and the distributed electron and photon
distributions of the active region.
 This optical confinement helps to contain the
otherwise large losses from a narrow active
region, leading to low threshold currents.
 An MQW is the active region of a laser that
can emit a single frequency at several different
wavelengths, known as a multiple array grating
integrated cavity (MAGIC) laser.

24
Graded Index Separate Confinement Heterostructure
(GRINSCH) Laser

 GRaded INdex Separate Confinement

Heterostructure (GRINSCH) Laser
 A narrower carrier confinement region (d)
of high recombination is separated from a
wider optical waveguide region
 Optical confinement can be optimized
without affecting the carrier confinement
 GRINSCH-SQW and GRINSCH-MQW
 The threshold current for a GRINSCH is
much lower than that of a DH laser
 For a standard DH laser, both mirror and
absorption losses increase rapid for thin
active region, leading to very high threshold
current.

25
GRINSCH Laser

26
 Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL)

 The structure of an VCSEL is very much

like a standard heterojunction LED.
 Advantages of the VCSEL:
 the possibility of single frequency operation
due to the short cavity
 the removal of the fragile cleavage process that
creates the end mirrors in a standard laser.
 The success of the VCSEL depends on
incorporating high reflectivity mirrors
in the structures
 The incorporations of DBR and MQW
structures highly improve the performance
of the VCSEL.
 Various DBRs in the VCSEL:
 crystalline BRD
 amorphous DBR stacks
 MgF/ZnSe DBR

27