A self-consistent model of the lateral behavior of a twin-stripe injection laser

A fully self-consistent computer model of the steady-state behavior of the zero-order lateral optical field of a GaAs twin-stripe injection laser is presented which takes into account current spreading in the p-type confining layer, the effect of lateral diffusion of carriers in the active layer, and bimolecular and stimulated radiative recombination. The results predict the lateral movement of the near field of the optical signal under asymmetric drive conditions, as observed in practice. Also calculated are the corresponding carrier and current density distributions. It is shown that the near-field zero order lateral optical field can be beam steered across the facet by only 2μm, typically. However, the initial position of the beam can be controlled by the two-stripe currents and also the geometry of the device. For the case where I_{s1} \approx I_{s2} the beam movement is seen to be proportional to either I_{s1} or I_{s2} . The results show that beam steering is not accompanied by a negative slope to the I-L characteristics. The effect of geometry and diffusion coefficient on the value of maximum current allowed before modal instability occurs is also given.