Optical mode parameters of the 2.3-μm Al(In)GaAsSb/GaSb ridge-waveguide laser diodes and laser diode arrays

Optical field distribution, effective indices and optical losses of the ridge-waveguides and ridge-waveguide arrays of the 2.3 μm InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb Type-I heterostructure laser diodes were simulated. The ridge waveguide depth and width were varied in the ranges from 0.5 to 1.45 μm and from 5 to 20 μm, respectively, in order to study effects of the ridge geometry on the optical mode parameters. Discrimination between groups of modes of the ridgewaveguide array with different optical field distributions was maximized by narrowing the array pumping region. The simulation was performed by Beam Propagation Method (BPM) with software BeamProp from Rsoft using experimental data on the material indices. Processing of the output data from the BeamProp were programmed in MathCAD favoring reduction of time in repetitive calculations and data analysis.