Abstract

Because of their short coherent lengths, self-sustained pulsating AlGaAs semiconductor lasers are attractive as low noise light sources in optical disk systems. Self-sustained pulsation occurs in index guide lasers having a small refractive index difference in the lateral direction of the active layer. Therefore, kinks due to hole burning appear at output power levels of <10 mW in conventional self-sustained pulsating lasers. Recently it has been reported that kink levels can be remarkably improved by introducing a multiquantum well (MQW) structure in the active layer.¹ This is because the carrier-induced refractive index change in the MQW laser is smaller than that in the double heterostructure (DH) laser.^2,3

© 1989 Optical Society of America