<p> Compositionally asymmetric multiple quantum well (AMQW) lasers are used for the demonstration of the gain flattening coating functionality. The gain spectra of the lasers are extracted using a non-linear least square fitting method. An optimum facet reflectance spectrum is calculated for a chosen current. For manufacturability, a modified reflectance spectrum of the gain flattening coating is proposed, in order to achieve operation over a wider spectral range without the 'difficult' gap which was a region where lasing was difficult or impossible to achieve due to insufficient gains at these wavelengths. </p> <p> Silicon oxides films with high, medium, and low refractive indices fabricated in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system are chosen as the building blocks of the gain flattening coating. An 18-layer coating is designed by the insertion of needle-like refractive index variation with a few optimization methods applied to minimize the merit function. A laser bar holder is custom designed and fabricated. Experiments and modification on the laser bar holder are carried out for better performance. The 18-layer gain flattening coating is then fabricated in the ICPCVD system with an in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometric measurement. It is observed that the non-lasing gap has disappeared after the coating is applied. Without external feedback, the coated laser shows tuning over 85 nm with the central wavelength of 1593 nm, while the uncoated laser has a non-lasing gap of about 25 nm in the central region of the tuning range of 70 nm. </p> <p> Finally, the coherence length of a low coherent source synthesized from the gain flattening coated AMQW laser is measured by using Michelson interferometer. The highest depth resolution that can be achieved is measured as 40 μm. The power intensity of the synthesized low coherence light source from the gain flattening coated AMQW laser is rendered from the interferogram using fast Fourier transform (FFT). </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

More efficient semiconductor lasers will be needed in tomorrow's applications. These lasers can only be realized through the application of new device processing techniques, designed to restrict current, carrier, and/or photon flow through the lasing cavity. This work aims to evaluate a non-conventional stripe laser processing technique which has the potential for effective current and possibly carrier confinement at low cost. This technique, referred to as hydrogen passivation, involves exposing laser material to a low energy hydrogen plasma, causing hydrogen ions to bind to charged acceptor and donor atoms. Such binding compensates the electrical activity of these dopant atoms and thereby increases the resistance of the exposed material. Optical confinement can also be achieved (subsequent to hydrogenation) by using a simple wet-etching process to form a lateral waveguide. Stripe lasers fabricated via hydrogen passivation have been demonstrated previously; however, the benefits of this method have not been fully explored or characterized. Our work aims to quantify the degree of current and carrier confinement provided by this technique. The cleaved cavity method of analysis is used to extract laser parameters via direct measurement. These parameters are then compared against those obtained from more conventional stripe lasers to identify improvements that have accrued from using hydrogen passivation. / Master of Science

A detailed characterization of the Ini-xGaxAsyP1-j, quaternary material system lattice matched to GaAs, grown by gas source Molecular Beam Epitixy (MBE) has been performed. Photoluminescence, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to study the lateral composition modulation (LCM) which was observed in this material system. Optimization of the growth process and the substrate orientation resulted in a significant reduction of the LCM. Additionally, a comprehensive analysis of the optical constants was performed which resulted in the first publication of wavelength and composition dependent index of refraction data for this material system. The combination of growth optimization and index of refraction data lead to the demonstration of efficient, low threshold operation of InGaAsP/GaAs based multiple quantum well lasers. In order to efficiently couple the above laser diodes to an external cavity to facilitate the generation of ultrashort pulses, antireflection facet coatings were required. As such, optical interference filters have been fabricated using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, based on the SiOxNy material system. High quality antireflection facet coatings, suitable for application to the InGaAsP/GaAs diode lasers have been designed and fabricated, resulting in modal reflectivities of 1-2 x 10-4. Finally, an ultrashort-pulse external-cavity diode laser system was designed and manufactured which allowed the laser diode to be wavelength tuned and emit mode-locked ultrashort optical pulses. Pulses with sub 2 ps duration and greater than 1 mW average output power have been achieved. A study of the novel application of an asymmetric quantum well structure to the generation of ultrashort optical pulses has been proposed and initiated. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The main objective of this research is to fabricate and characterize an optically integrated interferometric sensor on standard silicon and silicon CMOS circuitry. An optical sensor system of this nature would provide the high sensitivity and immunity to electromagnetic interference found in interferometric based sensors in a lightweight, compact package capable of being deployed in a multitude of situations inappropriate for standard sensor configurations. There are several challenges involved in implementing this system. These include the development of a suitable optical emitter for the sensor system, the interface between the various optically embedded components, and the compatibility of the Si CMOS with heterogeneous integration techniques. The research reported outlines a process for integrating an integrated sensor on Si CMOS circuitry using CMOS compatible materials, integration techniques, and emitter components.

In dieser Dissertation werden verschiedene Methoden zur Simulation der Dynamik der optischen Moden einer Fabry-Pérot-Laserdiode diskutiert. Experimentell lässt sich hierbei der Effekt des Modenrollens oder Modenhüpfens beobachten. Hier sind zu einem gegebenem Zeitpunkt nur ein oder zwei longitudinale Moden aktiv, dabei wechseln sich die Moden in einem bestimmten Wellenlängenbereich ab. Eine Erklärung für diesen Effekt sind Vibrationen der Ladungsträgerdichten in den aktiven Schichten bzw. den Quantenfilmen. So werden in der ersten betrachteten Methode die Ladungsträgerdichten bzw. die Besetzungsfunktionen zunächst als ortsabhängig betrachtet, um die Ladungsträger-Vibrationen direkt zu bestimmen. Bei diesem Vorgehen wird eine hohe Rechenzeit benötigt, welche bei einer anderen Methode mithilfe eines effektiven Modenwechselwirkungsterms allerdings erheblich reduziert wird. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass diese beiden Methoden sehr ähnliche Ergebnisse liefern, außerdem wird der effektive Modenwechselwirkungsterm unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Streuprozesse hergeleitet. Bei Strukturen mit mehreren Quantenfilmen oder größeren Stegbreiten spielt der Transport der Ladungsträger von den Kontakten zu den Quantenfilmen eine große Rolle, welcher in dieser Arbeit mithilfe der Drift-Diffusions-Gleichungen untersucht wird. Abschließend wird die Modendynamik mithilfe des Traveling-Wave-Modells simuliert. Im Gegensatz zu den bisher in dieser Arbeit verwendeten Methoden wird das optische Feld hierbei nicht mehr in die einzelnen Moden aufgeschlüsselt, sondern es wird partielle Differentialgleichung gelöst. / In this thesis different methods for the simulation of the mode dynamics in Fabry-Pérot laser diodes are discussed. These laser diodes show the effect of mode rolling, where the currently active longitudinal mode changes over time. This effect can be observed experimentally and can be explained by beating vibrations of the carrier densities in the quantum wells. In the first method used in this work the location dependence of the carrier densities and the distribution functions is considered. This procedure requires a lot of computing time, which is significantly reduced in another method using an effective mode interaction term. In the first part of this thesis it is shown that these two methods give very similar results, and the effective mode interaction term is derived taking into account various scattering processes. For structures with multiple quantum wells or broad ridge widths the transport of the charge carriers from the contacts to the quantum wells is important, which is examined in this work using the Drift-diffusion equations. Finally, the mode dynamics is simulated using the traveling wave model. In contrast to the methods used so far in this work the optical field is no longer broken down into the individual modes, instead a partial differential equation is solved.