Virginia TechWu, Y. C.Suris, R. A.Asryan, Levon V.2014-04-162014-04-162013-05-01Wu, Yuchang; Suris, Robert A.; Asryan, Levon V., "Effect of excited states on the ground-state modulation bandwidth in quantum dot lasers," Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 191102 (2013); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.48049940003-6951http://hdl.handle.net/10919/47376We consider direct and indirect (excited-state-mediated) capture of carriers from the waveguide region into the lasing ground state in quantum dots (QDs) and calculate the modulation response of a QD laser. We show 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. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.application/pdfen-USIn CopyrightCarrier relaxation dynamicsMaximum modal gainCaptureSaturationThresholdArticle - Refereedhttp://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/102/19/10.1063/1.4804994https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4804994