Wave function engineering of antimonide quantum-well lasers

We present a variational approach to the calculation of band structure for semiconductor heterostructures. The time-independent action integral is min imized to derive a discretized version of the coupled Schrodinger equations within the multi-band envelope function approximation. This leads to a cle ar procedure for systematically improving the solutions. The numerical impl ementation of this method has provided the impetus towards the development of wave function engineering, which may be defined as the ability to specif y the localization of carrier wave functions in quantum semiconductor nanos tructures through control over the growth, geometry, and material compositi on. Recent developments in the design and successful implementation of type -II antimonide quantum-well lasers have been a direct consequence of the ap plication of wave function engineering. Various aspects of the laser design for high temperature and high efficiency operation are considered, and a c omparison of the theory with experimentally demonstrated devices is made. ( C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.