Effect of carrier heating on chirp and modulation response of directly modulated semiconductor laser diodes

This paper examines the effect of carrier heating due to hot carrier injection in directly modulated semiconductor laser diodes. Using a single-mode rate equation model including an equation for the energy stored in the conduction band carriers, the changes in carrier temperature due to hot carrier injection from the barrier layer in quantum-well laser diodes are seen to cause a degradation in the device's sinusoidal modulation response. This degradation is coupled with an increase in the wavelength chirp of the light output. It is concluded that in order to minimize the detrimental effect of carrier heating on directly modulated quantum well laser diodes the barrier height should be kept as small as practical. Additionally, the appreciable change in device performance brought about by carrier heating should be accounted for when modelling such devices.