EEC238 - Semiconductor Diode Lasers

3 units - Spring Quarter Alternate Years

Lecture: 3 hours

Prerequisite: course 245A

Grading: Letter; based on homework and final exam

Catalog Description

Understanding of fundamental optical transitions in semiconductors and quantum-confined systems are applied to diode lasers and selected photonic devices. The importance of radiative and non-radiative recombination, simulated emission, excitons in quantum wells, and strained quantum layers are considered.

Expanded Course Description

  1. Interband Transitions and Elementary Excitations
    1. Linear optical absorption, refractive index
    2. Excitons
    3. Impurity level transitions
    4. Free-carrier absorption
  2. Perturbation of Physical Properties
    1. Pressure - band edge shift and selection rules
    2. Electric fields: Quantum confined Stark effect
    3. Franz-Keldysh effect
  3. High-Density Excitation, Optical Amplifiers
    1. Stimulated emission, optical gain
    2. Bandgap renormalization
  4. Semiconductor Lasers and LEDs
    1. Carrier confinement
    2. Photon confinement
    3. Double Heterostructure
    4. VCSELs
    5. DFB, DBR lasers
  5. Laser Properties
    1. Threshold
    2. Relaxation Resonance
    3. Efficiency and Heat flow
    4. Gain and Index dynamics
    5. Pulse propagation

Textbooks: Diode Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits; L. A. Coldren and S. W. Corzine, J. Wiley and Sons, 1995;Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices; P. Bhattacharya, Prentice Hall, 1997

Instructors: Heritage

Last Revised: 2/97

THIS COURSE DOES NOT DUPLICATE ANY EXISTING COURSES