EFFECT OF SPIN-ORBIT SPLIT-OFF BANDS ON GAINP ALGAINP STRAINED-QUANTUM-WELL LASERS/

We theoretically analyzed the effect of the spin-orbit split-off band on GaInP/AlGaInP strained quantum well lasers using 6 x 6 Luttinger-Ko hn Hamiltonian. Because of the small spin splitting energy of GaInP, w e show that the spin-orbit split-off subbands strongly couple with hea vy and light hole subbands, and linear gain properties are greatly dif ferent from those without the effect of spin-orbit split-off bands. Th e unstrained quantum well structure is most influenced by the spin-orb it split-off bands, and laser characteristics such as the differential gain and thresh-old current are degraded. The compressive-strained qu antum well has the lowest threshold current, and the tensile-strained quantum well has largest differential gain, which is improved by the e ffect of the spin-orbit split-off bands.