Spatial holeburning effects on the dynamics of vertical cavity surface-emitting laser diodes

Calculations are reported of the dynamic evolution of transverse modes in vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL's). It is shown that the spatial distribution of the modal fields plays an important role in determining the steady-state operating characteristics of the device. It is found that spatially separated modes can coexist by sharing the available gain, whereas strong competition occurs between modes that have a strong spatial overlap. The influence of carrier diffusion and spatial holeburning during the turn-on transient of the laser is elucidated, and the implications for the steady-state modal properties of the device are indicated.>