Dynamics and temperature-dependence of 1.3-μm GaInNAs double quantum-well lasers

We have measured the small-signal modulation response of 1.3-mu m ridge waveguide GaInNAs double quantum-well lasers over a wide range of temperatures (25 degrees C-110 degrees C) and analyzed the temperature dependence of the modulation bandwidth and the various bandwidth limiting effects. The lasers have low threshold currents and high differential efficiencies with small temperature dependencies. A short-cavity (350 mu m) laser has a modulation bandwidth as high as 17 GHz at room temperature, reducing to 4 GHz at 110 degrees C, while a laser with a longer cavity (580 mu m) maintains a bandwidth of 8.6 GHz at 110 degrees C. We find that at all ambient temperatures the maximum bandwidth is limited by thermal effects as the temperature increases with current due to self-heating. The reduction and subsequent saturation of the resonance frequency with increasing current is due to a reduction of the differential gain and an increase of the threshold current with increasing temperature. We find large values for the differential gain and the gain compression factor. The differential gain decreases linearly with temperature while there is only a weak temperature dependence of the gain compression. At the highest temperature we also find evidence for transport effects that increase the damping rate and reduce the intrinsic bandwidth.