Browsing by Author "Wu, Yuchang"
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- Direct and indirect capture of carriers into the lasing ground state and the light-current characteristic of quantum dot lasersWu, Yuchang; Asryan, Levon V. (American Institute of Physics, 2014-03-14)We calculate the light-current characteristic (LCC) of a quantum dot (QD) laser under the conditions of both direct and indirect capture of carriers from the optical confinement layer into the lasing ground state in QDs. We show that direct capture is a dominant process determining the ground-state LCC. Only when direct capture is slow, the role of indirect capture (capture into the QD excited state and subsequent intradot relaxation to the ground state) becomes important. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.
- Output power of a quantum dot laser: Effects of excited statesWu, Yuchang; Jiang, Li; Asryan, Levon V. (American Institute of Physics, 2015-11-14)A theory of operating characteristics of quantum dot (QD) lasers is discussed in the presence of excited states in QDs. We consider three possible situations for lasing: (i) ground-state lasing only; (ii) ground-state lasing at first and then the onset of also excited-state lasing with increasing injection current; (iii) excited-state lasing only. The following characteristics are studied: occupancies of the ground-state and excited-state in QDs, free carrier density in the optical confinement layer, threshold currents for ground- and excited-state lasing, densities of photons emitted via ground- and excited-state stimulated transitions, output power, internal and external differential quantum efficiencies. Under the conditions of ground-state lasing only, the output power saturates with injection current. Under the conditions of both ground- and excited-state lasing, the output power of ground-state lasing remains pinned above the excited-state lasing threshold while the power of excited-state lasing increases. There is a kink in the light-current curve at the excited-state lasing threshold. The case of excited-state lasing only is qualitatively similar to that for single-state QDs—the role of ground-state transitions is simply reduced to increasing the threshold current.
- Theory of Modulation Response of Semiconductor Quantum Dot LasersWu, Yuchang (Virginia Tech, 2013-06-03)In this dissertation, a theory of modulation response of a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) laser is developed. The effect of the following factors on the modulation bandwidth of a QD laser is studied and the following results are obtained:
1) Carrier capture delay from the optical confinement layer into QDs
Closed-form analytical expressions are obtained for the modulation bandwidth omega_{-3 dB} of a QD laser in the limiting cases of fast and slow capture into QDs. omega_{-3 dB} is highest in the case of instantaneous capture into QDs, when the cross-section of carrier capture into a QD sigma_n = infinity. With reducing sigma_n, omega_{-3 dB} decreases and becomes zero at a certain non-vanishing sigma_n^{min}. This sigma_n^{min} presents the minimum tolerable capture cross-section for the lasing to occur at a given dc component j_0 of the injection current density. The higher is j_0, the smaller is sigma_n^{min} and hence the direct modulation of the output power is possible at a slower capture. The use of multiple layers with QDs is shown to considerably improve the modulation response of the laser -- the same omega_{-3 dB} is obtained in a multi-layer structure at a much lower j_0 than in a single-layer structure.
2) Internal optical loss in the optical confinement layer
The internal optical loss, which increases with free-carrier density in the waveguide region, considerably reduces the modulation bandwidth omega_{-3 dB} of a QD laser. With internal loss cross-section sigma_int increasing and approaching its maximum tolerable value, the modulation bandwidth decreases and becomes zero. There exists the optimum cavity length, at which omega_{-3 dB} is highest; the larger is sigma_int, the longer is the optimum cavity.
3) Excited states in QDs
Direct and indirect (excited-state-mediated) mechanisms of capture of carriers from the waveguide region into the lasing ground state in QDs are considered, and the modulation response of a laser is calculated. It is shown that, when only indirect capture is involved, the excited-to-ground-state relaxation delay strongly limits the ground-state modulation bandwidth of the laser -- at the longest tolerable relaxation time, the bandwidth becomes zero. When direct capture is also involved, the effect of excited-to-ground-state relaxation is less significant and the modulation bandwidth is considerably higher. - Theory of photovoltaic characteristics of semiconductor quantum dot solar cellsWu, Yuchang; Asryan, Levon V. (American Institute of Physics, 2016-08-28)We develop a comprehensive rate equations model for semiconductor quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs). The model is based on the continuity equations with a proper account for quantum dots (QDs). A general analytical expression for the total current density is obtained, and the currentvoltage characteristic is studied for several specific situations. The degradation in the open circuit voltage of the QDSC is shown to be due to strong spontaneous radiative recombination in QDs. Due to small absorption coefficient of the QD ensemble, the improvement in the short circuit current density is negligible if only one QD layer is used. If spontaneous radiative recombination would be suppressed in QDs, a QDSC with multiple QD layers would have significantly higher short circuit current density and power conversion efficiency than its conventional counterpart. The effects of photoexcitation of carriers from discrete-energy states in QDs to continuum-energy states are discussed. An extended model, which includes excited states in QDs, is also introduced.