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

Self-pulsating laser diodes operating at 650 nm are required in high-density optical storage devices. By growing saturable absorbing quantum wells in the p-doped cladding layer of a laser it is possible to obtain the interplay between gain and absorption that is required for pulsation. A self-pulsating AlGaInP laser is modelled in order to gain an insight into how the distance between the active and absorber layers affects the laser output. Results 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.