Abstract

Numerical simulation has become an essential tool in the study and design of semi-conductor lasers, partly owing to the high cost of fabrication of these devices. Recent increases in device complexity combined with the availability of ever faster computers have resulted in the employment of a rich variety of simulation methods for describing both the transport of carriers and heat, and the competition between optical modes inside the laser cavity. The resulting predictive capability has played a significant role in the design of new diode lasers emitting higher optical powers with better beam quality. In this talk I will concentrate on that feature most unique to diode laser simulation - the optical cavity model. This component of the overall simulation is responsible for the prediction of modal near- and far-field patterns, cavity losses, and the relative gains of the dominant modes. The latter quantities depend primarily on the transverse shapes of the modes. If these are determined solely by a device structure that is constant along the cavity length, then the modal shapes may be conveniently calculated using an eigenfunction analysis. If, however, (as is often the case) the device structure varies along the cavity length, or the modal shapes are influenced strongly by the properties of the gain region, then an adaptive method such as beam propagation must be employed. I intend to explore in some depth the use of both of these methods for the modeling of laser emission from semiconductor ring lasers, edge-emitting arrays and vertical cavity arrays.

© 1993 Optical Society of America