Semiconductor Lasers

• Laser diode is similar in principle to an LED.

• What added geometry does a Laser diode require?
An optical cavity that will facilitate feedback in order to generate
stimulated emission.
Fundamental Laser diode: 1. Edge emitting LED. Edge emission is suitable
for adaptation to feedback waveguide.
2. Polish the sides of the structure that is radiating.
3. Introduce a reflecting mechanisn in order to return radiation to the
active region.
4.Drawback: low Q due to excessive absorption of radiation in p and n
layers of diode.
Remedy: Add confinement layers on both sides of active region with
different refractive indexes.Radiation will reflect back to active region.
 Laser Diodes

5. Polishing of the emitting sides of the cavity. A

considerable percentage of the radiation is reflected back
alone from the difference in reflective indexes of the air-
AlGaAs interface. Therefore mirror coating not necessary.
Note: radiation propagates from both sides of the device.
What function can a photodiode provide in the process?
It is attached to the inactive side to serve as a sensor for the
power supply in order to provide an element of control of
the laser output.
 Current

Cleaved surface mirror

L Electrode
p+ GaAs
L

n+ GaAs
Electrode

Active region
(stimulated emission region)

A schematic illustration of a GaAs homojunction laser

diode. The cleaved surfaces act as reflecting mirrors.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diodes
• Lasing occurs when the supply of free electrons exceeds
the losses in the cavity.
• Current through the junction and the electron supply are
directly proportional. I TH must be exceeded before laser
action occurs.
• Drawback of laser diode: Temperature
coefficient.Threshold current increases with temperature.
Possible shutdown.
Remedy:1. Cooling mechanism. (cooling mount)
2. Constant current power supply with
photodetector.
 Laser Diode Action (intrinsics)

Refer to diagram of degenerately doped direct bandgap

semiconductor pn junction.
Degenerate doping- where fermi level is (EFP ) on P-side is in
the valence band (VB)and EFN on the N-side is in the
conduction band (CB).
 Energy levels up to the the fermi level are occupied by
electrons.
 When there is no applied voltage the fermi level is
continuous across the diode (  E FN E FP )
.
 p+ Junction n+
Ec

Eg p+ n+
eV o Ec EF n
In v ers i o n
reg i o n Ec
Ev Eg
EF p H o les in V B EF n eV
Electro ns El ectro ns i n C B
Ec
EF p

Ev
(a) (b )

The energy band diagram of a degenerately doped p-n with no bias. (b) Band
diagram with a sufficiently large forward bias to cause population inversion and
hence stimulated emission.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diode (intrinsics)

 Space charge layer (SCL) is very narrow.

 Vo (built in voltage) prevents electrons in CB (n+-side)
from diffusing into CB of p+-side.
 There is a similar barrier preventing hole diffusion from
p+ to n+ sides.
 Assuming an applied voltage (ev) greater than the bandgap
energy,EFN and EFP are now separated by ev.
 eV diminishes barrier potential to 0 allowing electrons to
flow into SCL and over to p+-side to establish diode
current.
 Laser Diodes (intrinsics)

 A similar reduction in barrier potential for holes from p+-

side to n+-side occurs.
 Result  SCL no longer depleted.
E FN  EFP  eV  Eg
 Laser Diode (Population Inversion)

Refer to Density of States.

 More electrons in the CB at energies near Ec than
electrons in VB near Ev.
 This is the result of a Population Inversion in energies
near EC and EV.
 The region where the population inversion occurs develops
a layer along the junction called an inversion layer or
active region.
 Energy

Optical gain EF n  EF p
CB
EF n
Electrons
Ec
in CB
eV 0 h
Eg
Ev Holes in VB
= Empty states At T > 0
EF p
VB At T = 0
Optical absorption
Density of states
(a) (b )

(a) The density of states and energy distribution of electrons and holes in
the conduction and valence bands respectively at T  0 in the SCL
under forward bias such that E Fn  E Fp > E g . Holes in the VB are empty
states. (b) Gain vs. photon energy.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diode (stimulated emission)

An incoming photon with energy of E  E will not see

C V

electrons to excite from E to E due to the absence of

V C

electrons at E .
V

The photon can cause an electron to fall down from E to E .

C V

The incoming photon is stimulating direct recombination.

 Laser Diode (stimulated emission)

 The region where there is more stimulated emission than

absorption results in Optical gain.
 Optical gain depends upon the photon energy and thus
wavelength (see density of states).
Summary:
*Photons with energy > Eg but < E  E (eV ) cause stimulated
FN FP

emission.
*Photons with energy > E  E (eV ) are absorbed.
FN FP
 Laser Diode (pumping)

What is the impact of a temperature increase on Photon

energy?
The Fermi-Dirac function spreads the energy distributions
of electrons in the CB to above E FN and holes below E FP in
the VB.
Result: a reduction in optical gain.
*Optical gain depends on E  E which depends on applied
FN FP

voltage. In turn this depends on diode current.

 Laser Diode (pumping)

An adequate forward bias is required to develop injection

carriers across a junction to initiate a population inversion
between energies at E and energies at E .
C V

What is the pumping mechanism used to achieve this?

Forward diode current.
The process is called injection pumping.
 Optical P ower Laser
Optical Power

Optical P ower LED

Stimulated
emission 
Optical P ower Laser
Spontaneous
 emission

I
0
It h


Typical output optical power vs. diode current (I) characteristics and the corresponding
output spectrum of a laser diode.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diode (optical cavity)

In addition to population inversion laser oscillation must be

sustained.
 An optical cavity is implemented to elevate the intensity of
stimulated emission. (optical resonator)
 Provides an output of continuous coherent radiation.
 A homojunction laser diode is one where the pn junction
uses the same direct bandgap semiconductor material
throughout the component (ex. GaAs) See slide 3.
 Laser Diode (optical cavity)

The ends of the crystal are cleaved to a flatnessand the ends

polished to provide reflection.
 Photons reflected from cleaved surface stimulate more
photons of the same frequency.
 The  of radiation that escalates in the cavity is dependant
on the length L of the cavity.(resonant length)
 Only multiples of ½  exist.

m  L where : m is an integer (mode or resonant frequency)
2n
n is the refractive index of the semiconductor
 is the free space wavelength
 
m  L where : m is an integer (mode or resonant frequency)
2n
n is the refractive index of the semiconductor
 is the free space wavelength

 2
m 
2nL
 LaserDiode (modes)

Separation between the potential modes that can develop, or allowed

wavelengths, can be determined by the equation in the previous slide
as m .
=>the output spectrum of the laser diode depends upon the nature of the
optical cavity and optical gain versus wavelength.
Note: lasing radiation occurs when optical gain in the medium can
overcome photon losses from the cavity which requires diode current
to exceed a threshold current .
Light that exists below I th is due to spontaneous emission.
Incoherent photons are emitted randomly and deviceI thbehaves like an
LED.
 Laser Diodes(output)

Lasing oscillations occur when optical gain exceeds photon

losses and this is where optical gain reaches threshold gain
at I .
th

• This is the point where modes or resonant frequencies

resonate within the cavity.
• The polished cavity ends are not perfectly reflecting with
approximately 32% transmitting out of cleaved ends.
• The number of modes that exist in the output spectrum and
their magnitudes depend on the diode current.
 Laser Diodes (heterostructure)

The drawback of a homojunction structure is that the

threshold current density ( J th ) is too high and therefore
restricted to operating at very low temperatures.
Remedy: Heterostructure semiconductor laser diodes.
What must be accomplished?
- to reduce threshold current to a usable level requires an
improvement of the rate of stimulated emission as well as
the efficiency of the optical cavity.
 Laser Diodes (heterostructure)

Methods for improvement:

1. Carrier confinement. Confine the injected electrons and
holes to a narrow region about the junction. This
requires less current to establish the required
concentration of electrons for population inversion.
2. Construct a dielectric waveguide around the optical gain
region to increase the photon concentration and elevate
the probability of stimulated emission. This reduces the
number of electrons lost traveling off the cavity axis.
Summary: carrier confinement and photon confinement
required
 (a) A double
n p p heterostructure diode has
two junctions which are
(a ) AlGaAs GaAs AlGaAs between two different
bandgap semiconductors
(~0.1 m) (GaAs and AlGaAs).
Electrons in CB Ec
Ec (b) Simplified energy
Ec
2 eV
band diagram under a
2 eV
1.4 eV large forward bias.
Lasing recombination
(b) Ev takes place in the p-
Ev GaAs layer, the
active layer
Holes in VB

Refractive (c) Higher bandgap

index materials have a
(c ) Active n ~ 5% lower refractive
region index
Photon
density
(d) AlGaAs layers
provide lateral optical
(d) confinement.

© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

Laser Diodes (double heterostructure)

Refer to the slide of the DH structure.

=>AlGaAs has Eg of 2 eV
 GaAs has Eg of 1.4 eV
 P-GaAs is a thin layer (0.1 – 0.2 um) and is the Active Layer where
lasing recombination occurs.
 Both p regions are heavily doped and are degenereate with in the VB.
 With an adequate forward bias Ec of n-AlGaAs moves above Ec of p- E F
GaAs which develops a large injection of electrons from the CB of n-
AlGaAs to the CB of p-GaAs.
 These electrons are confined to the CB of the p-GaAs due to the
difference in barrier potential of the two materials.
 Laser Diode (double heterostructure)

Note:1.Due to the thin p-GaAs layer a minimal amount of

current only is required to increase the concentration of
injected carriers at a fast rate. This is how threshold
current is reduced for the purpose of poulation inversion
and optical gain.
2. A semiconductor with a wider bandgap (AlGaAs) will also
have a lower refractive index than GaAs. This difference
in refractive index is what establishes an optical dielectric
waveguide that ultimately confines photons to the active
region.
 Cleaved reflecting surface
W

L
Stripe electrode

Oxide insulator
p-GaAs (Contacting layer)
p-AlxGa1-xAs (Confining layer)
p-GaAs (Active layer)
n-AlxGa1-xAs (Confining layer) 2 1 3
Current Substrate
n-GaAs (Substrate)
Substrate
paths
Electrode

Elliptical Cleaved reflecting surface

laser
Active region where J > Jt h.
beam
(Emission region)

Schematic illustration of the the structure of a double heterojunction stripe

contact laser diode
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diode (double heterostructure)

 Substrate is n-GaAs
 Confining layers are n-AlGaAs and p-AlGaAs
 Active layer is p-GaAs (870-900nm)
 Additional contacting layer is p-GaAs
(allows better electrode contact and avoids Schottky
junctions which limit current.
 The p and n-AlGaAs layers provide carrier and optical
confinement by forming heterojunctions with the p-GaAs.
 Laser Diodes(double heterostructure)

Advantage of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction is that they offer

a small lattice mismatch between their crystal structures.
This introduces negligible strain induced interfacial defects
(dislocations).
Defects of this nature act as non-radiative recombination
centers.
 Laser Diode (double heterostructure)

Stripe Geometry:
=>current density J is not uniform laterally from the stripe
contact.
=>current is maximum along the central path and diminishes
on either side with confinement between path 2 and 3. (gain
guided)
=>population inversion and therefore optical gain occurs
where current density exceeds threshold current values.
Adavantages of stripe geometry: 1. Reduced contact reduces threshold current. 2.
Reduced emission area makes light coupling to fibre easier. (ex. Stripe widths
of a few microns develop threshold currents of tens of milliamperes)
 Laser Diode (fundamental characteristics)

What factors determine LD output spectrum?

1. The neature of the optical resonator that develops laser
oscillations.
2. The optical gain curve (line-shape of active medium).
=>Optical resonator is a Fabry-Perot cavity.
=>length determines longitudinal modes where width and
height of the cavity determines transverse or lateral
modes.
=>with a sufficiently small W and H only the lowest
transverse mode exits ( TEM ).
00
 Laser Diode (fundamental characteristics)

mode will have longitudinal modes whose separation

depends on the length of the cavity.
=>Note: the exiting laser beam displays a diverging field due
to diffraction at the ends of the cavity. The smaller the
aperture the greater the diffraction.
=>The spectrum developed is either multimode or single
mode determined by the geometry of the optical resonator
and the pumping current level. Refer to slide of index
guided LD.
Note the transition from multimode at low power to single mode at high
power. Gain guided LDs tend to stay in multimode.
 Electrode
Oxide insulation
p+-AlGaAs (Contacting layer)
p-AlGaAs (Confining layer)
n-AlGaAs
p-GaAs (Active layer)
n-AlGaAs (Confining layer)
n-GaAs (Substrate)

Schematic illustration of the cross sectional structure of a buried

heterostructure laser diode.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Dielectric mirror

Fabry-Perot cavity

Length, L

Height, H Width W Diffraction

limited laser
beam

The laser cavity definitions and the output laser beam

characteristics.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Relative optical power

P o = 5 mW

P o = 3 mW

P o = 1 mW
 (nm)
778 780 782

Output spectra of lasing emission from an index guided LD.

At sufficiently high diode currents corresponding to high
optical power, the operation becomes single mode. (Note:
Relative power scale applies to each spectrum individually and
not between spectra)
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diodes (temperature characteristics)

The output characteristics of an LD are sensitive to

temperature.
=>As temperature increases threshold current increases
exponentially.
 Output spectrum also changes.
 A single mode LD will mode hop (jump to a different
mode) at certain temperatures.
 This results in a change of laser oscillation wavelength.
  increases slowly due to small change in refractive index
O

and cavity length.

 P o (mW)
10 0 C 50 C
8 25 C

0 I (mA)
0 20 40 60 80

Output optical power vs. diode current as three different temperatures. The
threshold current shifts to higher temperatures.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Laser Diodes (temperature characteristics)

Remedies if Mode Hop undesirable:

1. Adjust device structure.
2. Implement thermoelectric (TE) cooler.
Gain guided LDs inherently have many modes therefore the
wavelength vs. temperature behaviour tends to follow
the bandgap (optical gain curve as opposed to the cavity
properties.
 Single mode Single mode Multimode
788
(a) (b) (c)
786
784
o
782
(nm)
780 Mode hopping
778
776
20 30 40 50 20 30 40 50 20 30 40 50
Case temperature ( C) Case temperature ( C) Case temperature ( C)

Peak wavelength vs. case temperature characteristics. (a) Mode hops in the output
spectrum of a single mode LD. (b) Restricted mode hops and none over the temperature
range of interest (20 - 40 C). (c) Output spectrum from a multimode LD.

© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)

 Laser Diodes (slope efficiency)

Slope efficiency determines the optical power ( P ) of the

O

coherent output radiation related to diode current I th

above . P
n slope  O

I  I th

 W/A or W/mA
 Slope efficiency dependant on device structure and
semiconductor package.
 Typically less than 1W/A
 n Po

nth Threshold population

n inversion

P o = Lasing output power  Nph

I
Ith

Simplified and idealized description of a semiconductor laser

diode based on rate equations. Injected electron concentration
n and coherent radiation output power Po vs. diode current I.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
 Light power
Laser diode

10 mW LED

5 mW

Current
0
50 mA 100 mA

Typical optical power output vs. forward current

for a LED and a laser diode.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)