LOW THRESHOLD CURRENT AND HIGH DIFFERENTIAL GAIN IN IDEAL TENSILE-STRAINED AND COMPRESSIVE-STRAINED QUANTUM-WELL LASERS

We use an idealized band structure to compare the characteristics of tensile- and compressive-strained quantum-well lasers. We show that although the threshold carrier density increases as expected in tensile-strained lasers, both the radiative current density and differential gain can be comparable to or improved over compressively strained lasers.