Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Therese Saiz

Publication Date

9-26-2008

Abstract

Superluminescent diodes (SLD) with a center wavelength of 1.2μm are of interest for use in medical imaging of skin tissue especially in the field of optical coherence tomography (OCT). In this thesis a ridge-waveguide multi-section quantum dot SLD that emits at 1.2μm with a bandwidth greater than 100nm and a power greater than 0.2mW is presented. The multi-section SLD allows simultaneous tuning of the ground state emission and excited state emission, resulting in wide bandwidth and high power. Theoretical equations describing the intensity output of the multi-section SLD configuration are presented. It is found that these equations are able to closely predict the measured SLD intensity as function of wavelength given measured gain and spontaneous emission spectra of the quantum dot active region. The gain and spontaneous emission data are derived from the improved segmented contact measurement technique that is especially compatible with the multi-section device approach and the stringent requirements on accuracy imposed by the low-gain quantum dot materials. Within the theoretical model, various approaches to simulating the SLD spectra are also investigated and compared.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Krishna, Sanjay

Second Committee Member

Grillot, Frederic

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