Theoretical calculation of optical gain in InxGa1−xAs/InP quantum wells under biaxially compressive and tensile strain

Abstract

We calculated the well‐plane valence band structures and the optical gain in In_xGa_1−xAs/InP quantum wells under both biaxially compressive and tensile strain using 4×4 Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian matrix [ Phys. Rev. 97, 869 (1955)]. We show that tensile strain can improve the 1.5‐μm laser performance as well as compressive strain due to the high joint density of states and the large TM‐mode optical matrix element between the ground‐state conduction and light‐hole subbands.