Quantum-well laser structures in regime of optoelectronic conversion

Abstract

The phenomena caused by an external optical feedback (OFB) in lasers are intensively investigated. Because of the small Q-factor of the cavity the semiconductor lasers have an enhanced sensitivity to OFB, strongly influencing their threshold, power, spectral, noise, coherent and other characteristics. The high sensitivity of semiconductor lasers to the back reflected radiation can be used for investigation of internal laser parameters and for solving of applied tasks, such as development of a new generation of sensors for various physical quantities (microdisplacements, microvibrations and velocity of reflecting objects, reflection characteristics of their surface), designing of multistable optical logic elements, etc. In this paper a comparative analysis of the optoelectronic signal (OES) magnitude in injection lasers with a bulk active region and quantum-well lasers with an active region as a quantum well, quantum wire and quantum dot in the approximation of coherent OFB is carried out.