On the optical modal gain of coupled quantum wells

Optical modal gain has been investigated for coupled quantum wells. Subband energies and envelope functions were determined by solving the Luttinger-Kohn effective mass equation including band mixing. The analysis was performed for GaAs-Al0.3Ga0.7As system, and shows that well coupling substantially shifts the spectral gain peak and band mixing reduces the gain peak as compared to the parabolic model. The implications for the design of semiconductor lasers based on coupled quantum wells are briefly discussed. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.