Temperature dependence of self-pulsation in narrow-stripe gain-guided compact disk laser diodes

We present experimental and theoretical investigations of the temperature dependence of self-pulsation in CD laser diodes. We use a rate equation model to predict the device dynamic behavior over a large temperature range and identify the role of carrier diffusion. We show experimentally and by calculating that the temperature dependence of the threshold current is driven by the carrier diffusion--particularly at low temperature. We experimentally show that for several temperatures the self-pulsation variation with respect to normalized bias current is highly linear. These results call into question whether pulsations in CD laser structures are undamped relaxation oscillations. Our results also suggest that the highly temperature dependent carrier diffusion does not play a first order role in CD laser diode self- pulsation