The effects of indium segregation on the valence band structure and optical gain of GaInAs/GaAs quantum wells

The effects of indium segregation on the valence band structures and the optical gain in GaInAs/GaAs quantum wells are theoretically investigated using 4×4 Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian matrix. The method for the band structure calculation is based on the finite difference method, then the optical gain is calculated using the density matrix approach. For segregation coefficient R less than 0.7, indium segregation has little influence on optical gain, but for segregation coefficient R more than 0.7, it has a significant influence on optical gain, the gain spectra can be blue-shifted with the increase of segregation coefficient R, and the peak gains are decreased as segregation coefficient R increases, which is mainly due to the reduction of the carrier population inversion.