Resonance frequency, damping, and differential gain in 1.5 mu m multiple quantum-well lasers

A systematic investigation is presented into the intrinsic frequency response of quantum-well lasers, using parasitic-free relative intensity noise (RIN) measurements. There is shown to be a strong dependence of the resonance frequency on the number of quantum wells in the active region, originating from variations both in internal losses and in differential gain. The differential gain is found to have values higher than in corresponding bulk lasers, but only in devices with a large number of wells. The damping is also found to vary in a manner consonant with the changes in differential gain; however, comparison with bulk lasers indicates substantially stronger gain suppression in the quantum-well lasers studied.< >