CARRIER TRANSPORT IN LASER HETEROSTRUCTURES

We present two-dimensional numerical simulation of carrier transport i n laser structures, which allows calculation of the efficiency of inje cted carrier consumption by the active region and the dependence of th e laser current on applied voltage. It also allows calculation of the current, carrier, and potential distribution in a laser structure. Thi s was done by use of PADRE, a program developed for the modeling of he terostructure electronic devices, which was supplemented with addition al calculations of the laser optical properties. We applied this progr am to investigate the effect on the laser quantum efficiency of thermi onic emission of electrons from the active layer. The temperature and current dependence of the laser internal quantum efficiency has been a nalyzed. This study allowed us to understand the performance of lasers with nearly ideal current-blocking structures.