Investigation of changes in absorber position in the 650nm AlGaInP self-pulsating laser for optical storage applications

Self-pulsating laser diodes operating at 650 nm are required in high-densit y optical storage devices. By growing saturable absorbing quantum wells in the p-doped cladding layer of a laser it is possible to obtain the interpla y between gain and absorption that is required for pulsation. A self-pulsat ing AlGaInP laser is modelled in order to gain an insight into how the dist ance between the active and absorber layers affects the laser output. Resul ts indicate that the device performance can be altered significantly as the distance changes, showing that this design feature is a key parameter for optimum performance.