Optical confinement factor dependence of K-factor, differential gain, and nonlinear gain in 1.55- mu m MQW and strained MQW lasers

Systematic studies on the optical confinement factor dependence of the K-factor, differential gain, and nonlinear gain coefficient in 1.55- mu m MQW and strained MQW lasers are reported. The most important conclusion of these studies is that the K-factors in the MQW and strained MQW lasers are reduced as the optical confinement factor is increased. This mainly results from the increase in the differential gain. Strained MQW lasers with large optical confinement factors are expected to achieve small K-factors and large modulation bandwidths.