Abstract

Quantum-well (QW) lasers can achieve higher modulation bandwidths than can conventional bulk lasers, because of their higher differential gain dg/dN. However, at high power, spectral hole burning and nonlinear effects lead to increased damping and saturation of the resonance frequency. These effects and other damping contributions are described by the phenomenological gain compression factor ε, which relates the linear gain g(N), the nonlinear gain G(N,S), and the photon density S, G(S,N) =g(N)/(l+εS). Recently, Arakawa and Takahashi' predicted that the ε related to hole burning in QW lasers (80-Å well thickness) is 1.7 times as high as was previously thought, and this could lead to lower bandwidth than was previously expected.

© 1991 Optical Society of America