Macroscopic versus microscopic description of polarization properties of optically anisotropic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

A macroscopic model for optically anisotropic vertical-cavity surface-emitt ing lasers (VCSEL's) is derived from a microscopic model [Burak et al,, Phy s, Rev. A, vol. 61, pp. 53809-53830, 2000], This provides a rigorous genera lization of the phenomenological approaches to the description of polarizat ion properties of VCSEL's used commonly in the literature, The optical anis otropy of the VCSEL structure is assumed to result from anisotropic strain of the active quantum-well material. The polarization-dependent linewidth e nhancement factors and gain coefficients are calculated microscopically fro m the anisotropy of the valence bands. The influence of the anisotropic str ain on the stability of polarization eigenmodes is investigated. A comparat ive study is performed between the full microscopic model and the macroscop ic model on different levels of approximations, The results of the models a gree very well for input/output characteristics of anisotropic VCSEL's, Als o, the stability properties of polarization eigenmodes are qualitatively th e same, although the ranges of stability are quantitatively different for b oth approaches, Incorporation of many-body effects into the analysis dimini shes the agreement between microscopic and macroscopic theories.