FDTD simulation of the nonlinear gain and pumping dynamics of optically pumped VCSELs

In this paper we apply the method of the FDTD solution of the full-wave vectorial Maxwell-Bloch equations for a two-level quantum system to investigate the nonlinear gain spatio-temporal dynamics of an active semiconductor microcavity. We have performed a number of validation studies in order to establish the ability of our 1D semiclassical model to correctly recover the nonlinear gain dynamics of a homogeneously broadened two-level saturable gain medium.