The static and dynamic properties of semiconductor quantum-well (QW) lasers have traditionally been analyzed by using rate equations that couple cold carriers to photons in the lasing cavity. This assumption of cold carriers, however, has often been disputed because it does not account for heating due to carrier relaxation, hot phonon effects, and spectral hole burning. All these processes affect laser performance significantly by modifying the gain because gain depends on carrier temperature as well as spectral broadening. In this paper, we study the carrier dynamics of QW lasers using a Monte Carlo method and conclude that hot carrier effects in semiconductor lasers are important and need to be considered for the analysis and design of semiconductor lasers.
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