MODELING TRANSVERSE OPTICAL-PATTERN DYNAMICS OF VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASERS BEYOND THE RATE-EQUATION APPROXIMATION

A model for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) is develop ed which takes into account an active layer thickness much smaller tha n the radiation wavelength. The evolution of material variables is des cribed in the framework of the semiconductor Maxwell-Bloch equations. For an infinitely wide VCSEL, it is shown that the traveling-wave solu tion with a tilted wave front has the lowest threshold. Simulations re veal periodically repeated ordered patterns for the real and imaginary held components, while the field intensity distribution remained near ly constant. Spatially inhomogeneous current pumping is shown to suppr ess transverse pattern formation.