Keywords
Citation
Chow, W.W., Koch, S.W. and Sargent, M. (1999), "Semiconductor‐Laser Physics", Sensor Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 325-326. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1999.19.4.325.1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
This superbly written book focuses on the underlying physics and operational principles of semiconductor lasers. A detailed analysis is given of the optical and electronic properties of the semiconductor medium.
The book comprises 11 chapters and five appendices. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce semiconductor laser diodes and some basic concepts, respectively. Free‐carrier theory is discussed in Chapter 3, while the fourth chapter covers the Coulomb effect.
Chapter 5 looks at many‐body gain and includes discussion on the Padé approximation, bulk semiconductors and quantum wells. Chapter 6 discusses band mixing and strain in quantum wells. Multimode operation and quantum theory of the laser are covered in chapters 8 and 9.
Propagation effects are addressed in Chapter 10 and includes discussion on longitudinal field dependence, lateral field distributions, diffraction effects, filamentation in amplifiers and unstable resonator lateral mode stability. The final chapter is titled “Beyond quasi‐equilibrium theory”.
Appendix A includes discussion on two‐level systems and rate equations, while Appendices B and C cover k*p theory and envelope function approach, respectively. Appendix D looks at strain effects. Appendix E, some Langevin goodies, derives diffusion coefficients and other quantities required for the noise spectrum discussions found in Chapter 9.
This book is suitable for a wide range of people who are interested in lasers. The only prerequisite necessary for reading this text is a suitable mathematical knowledge.