Ultrafast pulse amplification in mode-locked vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Journal Article · Mon Dec 29 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905203· OSTI ID:22395600

Hader, J.; Kilen, I.; Moloney, J. V. ^[1]; Koch, S. W. ^[1]

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1. College of Optical Sciences, The University of Arizona, 1630 E. University Blvd., Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States)

A fully microscopic many-body Maxwell–semiconductor Bloch model is used to investigate the influence of the non-equilibrium carrier dynamics on the short-pulse amplification in mode-locked semiconductor microlaser systems. The numerical solution of the coupled equations allows for a self-consistent investigation of the light–matter coupling dynamics, the carrier kinetics in the saturable absorber and the multiple-quantum-well gain medium, as well as the modification of the light field through the pulse-induced optical polarization. The influence of the pulse-induced non-equilibrium modifications of the carrier distributions in the gain medium and the saturable absorber on the single-pulse amplification in the laser cavity is identified. It is shown that for the same structure, quantum wells, and gain bandwidth the non-equilibrium carrier dynamics lead to two preferred operation regimes: one with pulses in the (sub-)100 fs-regime and one with multi-picosecond pulses. The recovery time of the saturable absorber determines in which regime the device operates.

• OSTI ID: 22395600
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 26 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHARGE CARRIERS
COUPLING
EQUILIBRIUM
GAIN
LASER CAVITIES
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
MODE LOCKING
MODIFICATIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
POLARIZATION
QUANTUM WELLS
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SURFACES
VISIBLE RADIATION