TWO‐DIMENSIONAL MODELING OF QUANTUM‐WELL SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS

We have developed a two‐dimensional model for quantum‐well lasers which solves, self‐consistently, the semiconductor equations together with the complex scalar wave equation and the photon rate equation. To predict the threshold current accurately we have included the wavelength‐ and position‐dependence of the gain and the spontaneous emission. For the complex wave equation successive over relaxation (SOR) is used with two adaptive acceleration parameters for the complex wave amplitude and for the eigenvalue. Since the rate equation near threshold can be driven into divergence during iteration for a steady state solution, we have introduced a special damping technique to overcome this problem. Our model enables us to predict the characteristics of a quantum‐well laser with a minimal number of empirical constants. The output of the model includes light‐current characteristics, and the current and optical field intensity distributions. We show the results of a calculation for a graded‐index separate‐confinement heterostructure single quantum‐well (GRIN‐SCH SQW) laser.