Theoretical Analysis of Optical Gain in Quantum Well Lasers Including Valence-Band Mixing Effect

The linear optical gain in the AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well lasers is studied theoretically, taking into account the valence-band mixing effect. Our approach is based on the multiband effective-mass theory (k p method) and the density-matrix formalism. In order to obtain the valence bands' structure we employ the 4×4 Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian, neglecting the coupling to the split-off band. The spectral dependence of the linear optical gain is calculated using the density-matrix method with interband relaxation. Finally, we analyse the spatial distribution of the optical gain in the quantum well region for the photon energy corresponding to the peak value of the linear gain.