Quantum cascade laser simulation using an sp³s* full Brillouin zone tight-binding model

This paper presents the sp³s tight-binding model capable of accurately modelling the conduction band nonparabolicity and the X-like nature of some of the resonances. The results of calculation for a particular AlAs/GaAs QCL gain medium are shown and the electronic structure of various other QCL gain medium designs have been simulated. The results from the tight-binding model calculations have also been compared to results from empirical two-band k-p model simulations. It has been shown that the tight-binding model is better able to predict maximized gain coefficient (E_peak) and is able to model states with X-like character.