Coupled optical and electronic simulations of electrically pumped photonic-crystal-based light-emitting diodes

We use coupled optical and electronic simulations to investigate design trade-offs in electrically pumped photonic-crystal-based light-emitting diodes. A finite-difference frequency-domain electromagnetic solver is used to calculate the spontaneous emission enhancement factor and the extraction efficiency as a function of frequency and of position of the emitting source. The calculated enhancement factor is fed into an electronic simulator, which solves the coupled continuity equations for electrons and holes and Poisson’s equation. We simulate a two-dimensional structure consisting of a photonic-crystal slab with a single-defect cavity and investigate different electrical pumping geometries for such a cavity.