A quantitative comparison of the classical rate-equation model with the carrier heating model on dynamics of the quantum-well laser: the role of carrier energy relaxation, electron-hole interaction, and Auger effect

In this paper, a quantitative theoretical comparison of the classical rate-equation model with the carrier heating model for large signal dynamic response of 1.5-/spl mu/m InGaAs-InGaAsP single-mode quantum-well (QW) lasers Is performed. The contributions of carrier energy relaxation, electron-hole interaction, and Auger effect to the nonlinear gain are inspected in detail by a numerical comparison of the two models at room temperature (293 K) and low temperature (50 K). It can be shown that contribution of the carrier heating to the nonlinear gain coefficient is proportional to an effective carrier energy relaxation time, and the contribution of the electron-hole energy exchange time shows a nonlinear relation. Furthermore, the influence of Auger heating on the modulation dynamics is also considered and is found to be indescribable by a single phenomenological nonlinear gain coefficient. The dependence of the nonlinear gain coefficient on the laser emission wavelength of distributed feedback lasers is also demonstrated quantitatively for the first time.