Tuning a conventional quantum well laser by nonresonant laser field dressing of the active layer

•The feasibility of tuning a GaAs QW laser by ILF dressing was investigated.•The effective mass approximation and finite differences method were used.•Conduction and valence subbands are found to be sensitive to the ILF dressing.•The interband transition energy of the active layer is blueshifted by the ILF.•Emitted wavelength, threshold current and characteristic temperature are discussed.

Tunable semiconductor lasers may be considered as a critical technology for optical communications. We investigate the theoretical feasibility of tuning a conventional GaAs/Al0.2Ga0.8As quantum well laser emitting at 825 nm by non-resonant laser-dressing of the active layer. Conduction and valence subbands are sensitive to the intense dressing field and this effect can be used to blueshift the active interband transition. The laser-dressed electron and hole states are calculated in the effective mass approximation by using the finite difference method. Emitted wavelength, threshold current and characteristic temperature are discussed as functions of the dressing laser parameter and cavity length.