Design and realization of high-power ripple-free superluminescent diodes at 1300 nm

To realize high-power superluminescent diodes (SLDs) emitting at the 1300-nm wavelength and to see how different structure parameters influence the device performances, three different epitaxial layers have been studied. It was found that the structure employing a graded-refractive-index separate-confinement heterostructure, with linearly graded p-doped cap layer and with eight quantum wells, is most suitable for high-power SLDs. With a proper design of a geometrical structure for SLDs, the obtained output power at 20/spl deg/C is about 25 mW under CW operation and 100 mW at 1.1 A under pulsed operation with no observable ripple.