Modal behaviour of weak index guided stripes in low confinement laser diodes

This paper presents the optical field behaviour of relatively large stripes, long laser diodes. The devices were designed to operate in the fundamental lateral mode. The stripe width, of order of 16 /spl mu/m, involves a very low refractive index step at the ridge edges and the operation of the diode in the weak index guided regime. This index profile and subsequently, the optical field distribution is very easily disturbed by carrier injection or by temperature. The paper aims to characterise the influence of direct current intensity on lateral far field.