EXCITONS IN InP AT HIGH EXCITATION LEVELS 2487

Under the above assumptions, 10,,-,5-100 W/cm

2
By
focusing the light of the GaAs laser ("-' 1 W) onto a spot
of diameter ",,0.1 mm, light intensities"" 1()4 W / cm
2
are
attainable.
To summarize, with available GaAs injection lasers
it appears practicable to create electron-hole pairs in
InP in sufficient density to observe collective effects
associated with BE condensation of excitons. Line nar-
rowing is expected. The major difficulties in principle
are: (1) it is not clear that excitons exist at the densities
required (1.3X 10
15
cm-
3
at 2K) and (2) assuming they
exist, the effects of interactions between excitons on the
condensation are not known. In addition, the use of
the laser source leads to the creation of energetic elec-
tron-hole pairs, a condition less favorable for the at-
tainment of quasi-equilibrium then would be the case
if the excitons were created directly (cf. Refs. 3, 6, 8).
Sample purity and heating due to the intense SOurce
are further practical difficulties. Nevertheless, an experi-
mental study of dense electron-hole systems in rela-
tively pure InP samples appears worthwhile.
Note added in proof. N athan
21
has made preliminary
measurements, irradiating an InP sample in liquid He
at 1.9K with intensities up to 1 kW/cm
2
from a GaAs
laser. He found a broadening of the emission line asso-
ciated with "free" exciton decay at low excitation
levels, perhaps indicating that the excitons dissociate
as discussed above.
21 M. I. Nathan (private communication).
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS VOLUME 36, NUMBER 8 AUGUST 1965
Saturation Effects in High-Gain Lasers
W. W. RIGROD
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, Murray Hill, New Jersey
(Received 17 December 1964)
Earlier calculations of the radiation intensity obtainable from lasers with homogeneous line broadening
are generalized to include arbitrarily large loss fractions per pass. The conditions for maximum transmitted
or internally dissipated power are derived, as well as the axial distribution of radiation within the active
medium. The relevance of these calculations to high-gain gas lasers is discussed.
INTRODUCTION
T
HE radiation intensity produced by steady-state
lasers (optical masers) has been computed pre-
viously,I.2 subject to the restriction of small fractional
values of the net loss per pass. With the advent of high-
gain lasers which can oscillate even in the presence of
large dissipative or coupling losses, however, it is ex-
pedient to extend these computations by removing the
latter restriction. The analysis presented here treats
only the case of homogeneous laser transitions, in which
the line shape does not change during gain saturation.
The resonator is assumed to support substantially
plane electromagnetic waves, with its losses concen-
trated near the mirrors. Despite these assumptions, the
results should furnish a first-order description of the
radiation distribution in most forms of high-gain lasers,
when the losses exceed several percent.
If we denote the normalized radiation intensities in
the +z and -z directions of a laser oscillator by
fh=w+/wo and fL=w_/wo, respectively, where Wo is
the saturation parameter, the saturated gain coefficient
g(z) is related to the unsaturated gain coefficient go by!
(1)
1 E. O. Schulz du Bois, Bell System Tech. J. 43, 625 (1964).
2 W. W. Rigrod, J. Appl. Phys. 34, 2602 (1963).
As the gain coefficient is isotropic,
1 d{3+ 1 d{3-
g(z)=--=---
{3+ dz {3- dz
(2)
and we see that
{3+t3- = const. = C. (3)
As shown in Fig. 1, the coordinate z runs between the
extremities of the uniform maser medium, which is
bounded by the effective reflectances
and (4)
r2= 1-a2-t
2
at z=L,
where a1,a2 are the dissipative losses and tlh the re-
spective mirror transmittances.
Oscillations will then stabilize at a level which
satisfies the boundary conditions:
({32/ (33)r2= ({34/{31)r1 = 1. (5)
From (3) we have
(6)
and therefore
(7)
2488 W. W. RIGROD
1--------- 9oL----------+j
I
I I
_ MASER MEDIUM _
- __ 1,13++ ;3-1
-------
;3.
o
z-
L
the output intensity at each mirror is Wt, given by
2wt/wo= [(1-a-r)/ (1-r)][goL+ lnr J (17)
= [t/(a+t)J[goL+ln(1-a-t)]. (18)
Thus, when a1 = a2, we can always replace an asym-
metrical resonator by an equivalent symmetrical reso-
nator, given by (15), having the same relation between
the total output power and the unsaturated gain goL.
In addition, when one mirror is opaque and lossless,
say t
1
=0 and r1= 1, the output intensity is given by
Wt 12
-=/32t
2
=--[goL+ln(r2)!J
Wo a2+t2
(19)
corresponding to the output at each of the two identical
mirrors of a symmetrical resonator with twice as much
gain. Accordingly, we shall confine our attention hence-
forth to symmetrical resonators.
The optimum output coupling t
opt
, for which Wt in
(18) is maximized, is defined by
t/a= [(1-a-t)/ (a+t)J[goL+ln(l-a-t)J (20)
FIG. 1. Schematic diagram showing normalized levels of flux glvmg
intensity in both directions in an asymmetric laser oscillator; and 2 (Wt)max/WO= t
2
/ a(l-a- t), (t= t
opt
). (21)
symbols employed as in the text.
Integrating the gain expression (1) for power flow in
the positive direction
1 d/3+
(8)
we obtain
The same procedure for gain in the negative direction
yields
goL= In(/34//3a) +/34- (3a-C(1/{34-1/{3a). (10)
Adding these two equations, and making use of (5) and
(6), we obtain
(r1)l
{32= [goL+ln(r1r 2)lJ (11)
[Crt)l+ (r2);J[1- (r1r2)lJ
and {34 is then given by (7).
The total output radiation intensity, via both
mirrors, is (W2+W4), given by
(W2+W4)/WO= {34h+{32t2.
When the losses at each mirror are equal,
this reduces to
W2+W4 l-a- (r1r2);
--= [goL+ ln (r1r2) 1].
Wo 1- (r1r2)*
For a symmetrical resonator, defined by
r= l-a-t,
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
For small loss fractions, (a+t)l, these equations
reduce to the approximate solutions previously derived
2
:
topt/a= (goL/a)l-l
2 (Wt)max/WO= topt
2
/ a.
(22)
(23)

8 a= 0.001
'0
","
'"
0.005
0.025
0.050
0.075
0.'
4
t
OPT
0.2
a 0.3
0.4
0.5
--- EXACT
---- APPROX.
2
0.' 0=-------='20=----4:'::0--------::'6'=-0 40
UNSATURATED GAIN (De)
FIG. 2. Optimum coupling coefficient (topt) for maximum oscil-
lator output power, as a function of the loss fraction (a) and the
unsaturated gain in dB, 4.343 goL. The solid lines represent the
exact solution, and the dashed lines the approximate version.
SATURATION EFFECTS IN HIGH-GAIN LASERS 2489
The exact and approximate solutions for t
oPt
are
plotted in Fig. 2 for various values of the unsaturated
gain in dB, 4.343 gaL, and the loss fraction a. The ap-
proximate solution is adequate, for high-gain lasers, up
to about a= 1 %. The error in the approximate solution
increases rapidly, however, for greater losses, with both
a and goL. We see that topt/a decreases rapidly with in-
creasing a, such that i-a for a>0.5 at high gain
values. The curves of Fig. 3 shows the normalized maxi-
mum output intensity obtainable with optimum output
coupling, as given by (21), for given values of a and
4.343 gaL. The enhancement of available output power
by a decrease in a is greatest for small gain values. At
high values of gain and loss (a>0.5), the normalized
output (21) approaches (i-a) gaL. (Gain saturation
due to amplified spontaneous emission sets an upper
limit to the gain per pass in Figs. 2 and 3.)
A similar procedure may be used to design a resonator
for maximum power dissipation within it. In the sym-
metrical resonator, the normalized radiation intensity
reflected from each mirror is
(24)
which can be written in the form:
(25)
stating that the power generated per pass ({32- (31)
equals the power dissipated in a plus that transmitted
via t. The duality between the two forms of loss is
shown by comparing the expression for the total
(normalized) transmitted power
2{32t= [tl (a+t)J[gaL+ In(l-a- t) ] (26)

20
10
8
6
4
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.1 Wl. __ ....L. __ --" ____ ..l..... __ --L ____ .L-__ --'-__ -,-'
o 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
UNSATURATED GAIN (DB)
FIG. 3. Normalized values of the maximum output flux in-
tensity, 2 (W')max/WO, of the homogeneous-line laser oscillator, ob-
tainable with optimum output coupling for given values of a and
the single-pass gain 4.343 goL(dB).
1.0 ,-----------------:::;::;=--_-:---,
UJ
0.8
..J
n.
I
o
0.6

UJ
>

til 0.2
((
1
2r
2
l+r

o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
REFLECTANCE, r
FIG. 4. Ratio of the flux intensity at the midplane (z=L/2)
of a homogeneous-line maser to that at either end (z=O,L), as a
function of mirror reflectance.
with the normalized form of the dissipated power:
2{32a= [al (a+t)J[gaL+ In(l-a-t)]. (27)
For :fixed t, there is an optimum value of a for maximum
power dissipation in a; and this power is greatest when
t=O.
It is curious to note that the variation of total (two-
way) radiation intensity within the symmetrical laser
cavity is independent of the unsaturated gain. When
the gain expression (8) is integrated over half the laser
length, we find that
goL/2= In ({3+1 (31)+ ({3+ -C/{3+)+ ({32-{31)' (28)
At the midplane z=LI2, the flux in both directions is
the same,
yielding
(3+={3-= C/{3+
gaL/2= In({3+/{3-)+ ({32-{31)'
Combining this result with (9), we obtain
(29)
(30)
In ({3+/ (31) = t In ({32/ (31) = - t lnr. (31)
The ratio of the two-way flux intensities at the midplane
z=L/2, to that at the extremities of the laser, z=O and
z=L, is then given by
({3++{3-h/2 2 ({3rf32)t 2(r)t
({3+ +{3-)O,L {31+{32 1 +r'
(32)
i.e., the ratio of the geometric mean of {31 and {32 to their
arithmetic mean. This ratio is plotted in Fig. 4 as a
function of r, the geometric mean of the mirror re-
flectances. (The relatively small variation of total flux
intensity with distance in a laser has been noted in-
dependently by R. N. Zitter.) The expression is not
valid, naturally, in the limit of r=O, as spontaneous
emission noise input would then need to be considered.
2490 W. W. RIGROD
The maximum variation in the saturated gain co-
efficient g(z) along the laser axis is indicated by the
ratio
which does not differ appreciably from unity for r>t.
Gas lasers saturate more or less homogeneously
under several conditions: (1) when the half-width of
the hole burned in the Gaussian gain profile by mono-
chromatic radiation is comparable to that of the transi-
tion itself3; (2) when the collision frequency is not small
compared to the spontaneous decay rates of the excited
states
4
; and (3) in very long resonators, when the mode
spacing is appreciably smaller than the hole widths,
resulting in nearly uniform gain saturation over the
oscillation bandwidth. One or more of these conditions
is usually operative in very high-gain gas lasers, except
for oscillations not far from threshold.
In the last instance mentioned, the integrated radia-
tion intensity of the laser over the transition can be
computed, approximately, by assuming the gain co-
efficient to saturate homogeneously in each frequency
interval within the band.
5
This procedure, employed
in Ref. 5 for small-loss lasers, (a+t)l, can be gen-
eralized to arbitrarily large loss per pass in the same
way as for a true homogeneously broadened laser.
In each frequency interval dv under the Gaussian
gain profile, the output radiation intensity is given by
an expression similar to (18):
21)W,(v) = [tl (a+t)J[go(vo)L exp- [(v-vo)1 .1vcJ2
+In(l-a-t)J, (34)
where Wo has been replaced by 1)-\ the saturation
parameter per unit bandwidth, Vo is the center fre-
quencyof the transition,
(35)
and .1vD is the Doppler width at half-maximum. The
oscillation bandwidth, over which is given by
(36)
where
X=go(vo)LI-ln(l-a-t). (37)
Integration of (34) over the oscillation band yields the
total multifrequency output intensity WI, as follows:
2W t/ 1)-1 (2.1v
ma
x) = [tl (a+ t) J
X[(goL)+ln(l-a-t)J, (38)
where (goL) is the average value of goL over the oscilla-
3 E. I. Gordon, A. D. White, and J. D. Rigden, Proceeding of
the Symposium on Optical Masers (Polytechnic Press, Brooklyn,
New York, 1963), Vol. 13, p. 309.
4 W. R. Bennett, Jr., Phys. Rev. 126, 580 (1962).
6 A. D. White, E. I. Gordon, and J. D. Rigden, Appl. Phys.
Letters 2,91 (1963).
tion bandwidth, given by
(goL) = go(vo)L(1I"i/2)[erf (lnX)l/ (lnX)!]. (39)
Comparison of (38) with (18) shows they are formally
identical, except for the replacement of goL by its
average value, and of Wo by an equivalent parameter
Wo= 21)-1.1v
max
=1)-![2.1v
c
(lnX)lJ (40)
for the uniformly saturated Gaussian line. The optimum
output transmittance topt is found by setting dW
t
/ dt= 0
in (38). After some algebra, we obtain an expression
very similar to (20):
t/a= [(1-a-t)1 (a+t)J[(goL)+ln(l-a-t)J,
t=topt. (41)
The maximum output intensity (Wt)max at each mirror
is given by
2 (Wt)maxIWo=t2/a(l-a-t), t=topt (42)
in the same form as (21).
In practice, we are usually able to determine the
peak gain go(vo)L and loss a per pass, but do not know
the oscillation bandwidth or the corresponding value of
(goL). However, as previously noted, the approximate
solutions for topt/ a, derived for the condition (a+t)l,
are adequate for a <0.01 and gains below about 20 dB.
In this region, therefore, the solutions for t
opt
/ a and
(Wt)max given in Fig. 5 of Ref. 2 may be used.
For higher values of loss and gain, on the other hand,
the curves of Fig. 2 show that topt! a changes very
slowly with goL, and for very high values of goL ap-
proaches the value
toptl a"" (1/ a)-1. (43)
Thus for gains above about 20 dB and a> 0.01, the peak
gain value go(vo)L can be used in place of (goL), with
the curves of Fig. 2, to find topt/a to a quite good ap-
proximation. If better accuracy is sought, the values so
obtained can be used to compute X, and consequently
(goL) from (39), and with them to redetermine topt/a.
Having found X, we can compute .1v
max
from (35) and
(36), evaluate Wo from (40), and thus find the maxi-
mum output intensity via each mirror (WI)max from
(42) or the curves of Fig. 3. Alternatively, for very high
gain per pass, such that X1,
erf (lnX) t "" 1
and (38) reduces to the expression
2W
t
t 1I"t
___ ,rv -go (vo)L
1)-1 (2.1vc) a+t 2
in which W
t
= (Wt)max when t=t
opt
.
(44)
(45)
The writer is indebted to Mrs. C. A. Lambert for
performing the numerical computations, and to E. 1.
Gordon for valuable comments.