CARRIER TRANSPORT IN LASER HETEROSTRUCTURES

We present two-dimensional numerical simulation of carrier transport in laser structures, which allows calculation of the efficiency of injected carrier consumption by the active region and the dependence of the laser current on applied voltage. It also allows calculation of the current, carrier, and potential distribution in a laser structure. This was done by use of PADRE, a program developed for the modeling of heterostructure electronic devices, which was supplemented with additional calculations of the laser optical properties. We applied this program to investigate the effect on the laser quantum efficiency of thermionic emission of electrons from the active layer. The temperature and current dependence of the laser internal quantum efficiency has been analyzed. This study allowed us to understand the performance of lasers with nearly ideal current-blocking structures.