THEORY OF RESONANT MODULATION AT MILLIMETER-WAVE FREQUENCIES OF INHOMOGENEOUSLY BIASED MONOLITHIC QUANTUM-WELL LASERS

We show theoretically that resonant modulation at millimeter wave freq uencies of inhomogeneously biased monolithic quantum-well laser diodes provides an enhancement in the modulation efficiency of >14 dB over t hat of the homogeneously biased laser, accompanied by a corresponding 7 dB increase in the noise and a comparable decrease in the signal-to- intermodulation distortion, We derive simple expressions for the enhan cement in the modulation efficiency, the noise and intermodulation dis tortion, and discuss the limits of this approach and the trade off bet ween these quantities, The theoretical results presented here are in g ood agreement with recently published experimental work.