Controlling filamentation in broad-area semiconductor lasers and amplifiers

Abstract

We show that with the introduction of a new pair of epitaxial layers, sandwiched between the active and cladding regions, self-defocusing can play an important role in stabilizing the lateral mode in broad-area semiconductor lasers and amplifiers. Under certain conditions, it can be used to eliminate filamentation and provide a nearly flat mode profile by adjusting the band gap of the new self-defocusing layers. We discuss the use of a strained multiple-quantum-well laser for producing such a stable lateral mode. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.