Optical properties of InGaAs/InP strained quantum wells

Abstract

We report the results of calculations of the optical properties of strained InGaAs/InP quantum wells based on realistic band structure. Emphasis is placed on those features relevant to the operation of quantum well lasers. A k. p model including spin and strain is used to calculate the electronic states of the quantum well. The optical matrix elements as well as the dispersion of the conduction and valence subbands are obtained directly from the model and used to calculate gain and spontaneous emission spectra to study some aspects of intervalence band absorption and to model the behaviour of multiquantum well lasers. The results show that interband mixing causes substantial departures from the predictions of simple models including the failure of band edge selection rules for optical transitions. It is demonstrated how the combined effect of alloy composition spatial confinement and strain can can be used to influence the optical properties of quantum wells and improve the performance of lasers based on these structures.