Abstract

The dynamic response of semiconductor lasers and amplifiers is usually modeled by a set of three rate equations that govern the dynamics of the injected carrier density, the intracavity average photon density and the associated optical phase. The rate equations are reasonably accurate in the picosecond regime, provided that the intraband scattering effects, leading to physical phenomena such as earner heating and spectral hole-burning, are included through the gain and index nonlinearities.¹ The rate-equation approximation becomes questionable for time scales shorter than 10 ps and completely breaks down in the femtosecond regime. The microscopic Bloch equations have been used to study the femtosecond dynamics of semiconductor lasers and amplifiers.² However, the complexity of such equations and the extensive computation required for their solution often make their use impractical.

© 1995 Optical Society of America