Every software package contains a full set of examples suitable for that version and are installed with the software. If you see examples here that are not in your installation you should consider updating to a later version of the software. These examples can be used by beginners and advanced users for product evaluation, teaching purposes, and self-training.

Required Modules

Atlas

• Blaze
• Laser

This example demonstrates simulation of the stripe geometry GaAs/AlGaAs laser diode. Physically based frequency dependent optical gain model is used in this example. The example shows:

Laser structure definition using Atlas syntax

Material parameters specification

Setting conventional physical models

Device initial biasing

Activating LASER module of Atlas

Mesh definition for solving the Helmholtz wave equation

Definition of laser physical models and their parameters including optical gain model

Calculation of laser electrical and optical characteristics

In this example the same approach is applied to simulate a laser structure of a different geometry and material composition. The active region of the device under consideration represents a narrow stripe made of GaAs included between two AlGaAs regions.

After performing the LASER simulation and saving the results in the log and structure output files, the following results are displayed:

Total light output power versus current

Light intensity distribution over the structure

Since stripe geometry lasers do not provide sufficient light confinement in the direction parallel to the p-n- and heterojunction planes, the lasing region can be smeared laterally along the active region or shifted to a side of the structure due to fluctuations in the carrier density and dielectric permittivity. The latter may lead to the spatial hole burning effect and have a negative influence on the laser characteristics. In this example spatial hole burning does not occur, but the lack of index waveguiding in the lateral direction which results in spreading the lasing area along the active region is clearly visible.

Images