Extraction of inhomogeneous broadening and nonradiative losses in InAs quantum-dot lasers

We present a method to quantify inhomogeneous broadening and nonradiative losses in quantum dot lasers by comparing the gain and spontaneous emission results of a microscopic laser theory with measurements made on 1.3 μm InAs quantum-dot lasers. Calculated spontaneous-emission spectra are first matched to those measured experimentally to determine the inhomogeneous broadening in the experimental samples. This is possible because treatment of carrier scattering at the level of quantum kinetic equations provides the homogeneously broadened spectra without use of free parameters, such as the dephasing rate. We then extract the nonradiative recombination current associated with the quantum-dot active region from a comparison of measured and calculated gain versus current relations.