The role of the optical trans-characteristics in laser diode analysis

• Trans-characteristics : the monitor current vs. laser voltage in a laser module.
• They are shown to carry detailed information on the behavior of the active region.
• Trans-characteristics are coupled with EBIC to study some laser burnout cases.
• Basic concepts in laser diode theory are discussed, as gain and efficiency.

Current and/or photon crowding are indicted as a risk factor for high modulation speed laser diodes. A prompting field failure case is complemented with detailed the analysis of the DC measurements, highlighting the role of the transcharacteristics, and EBIC mapping.