WAVE MIXING IN SEMICONDUCTOR-LASER AMPLIFIERS DUE TO CARRIER HEATING AND SPECTRAL-HOLE BURNING

Theoretical results on wave mixing in traveling-wave semiconductor laser amplifiers are presented. Starting from rather general density-matrix equations, including the effects of carrier-density pulsations, carrier heating, and spectral-hole burning, we derive equations capable of treating the range from nearly degenerate to highly nondegenerate four-wave mixing. The equations are solved numerically, and comparison to published experimental results is made. The theoretical results explain different experimental results, which have been taken to support either the role of spectral-hole burning or that of carrier heating in mediating wave mixing under highly nondegenerate conditions.