74 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM

ELECTRONICS,
VOL. QE-12, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1976

TM-Mode Coupling Coefficients in Guided-Wave Distributed

Feedback Lasers

Abstract-We
derive an equationfor TM-mode coupling coeffi-
cientsin guided-wave distributedfeedback (DFB) lasers. Resultsfor
GaAs:GaAIAsdouble-heterostructurelasers with rectangular, triangular,
and sawtooth-shaped teeth, various Bragg diffraction orders, and trans-
verse mode numbers are presented for TM modes and compared with
I" x = t x "3

those for TE modes. Generally, but not always, coupling coefficients

for TE modes exceed those forTM modes.
V
"2 "1, "3
I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Schematic of a guided-mode DFB laser.
ALCULATIONS ofcouplingcoefficientsindistributed
C feedback (DFB) heterostructure lasers published
have considered TE modes. It is important to know TM-mode
to date where Ri(z) and Si(z) are amplitudes of the right and left tsav-
eling jth TM mode, respectively.Uponsubstituting (3) into
couplingcoefficients as well to determinewhichtypesof (1) and neglecting R f ( and Sf((which assumes the amplitudes
modes will have lower thresholds and thus lase preferentially. are slowly varying), we obtain
The derivation of the TM coupling-coefficientequation is
morecomplicatedthan thatforTE modes.Thishasbeen
noted by Peng and Tamir [ 3 ] , who calculated radiation pro-
duced by TM modes and also by Weber et al. [2] , who con-
sidered the effect of transverse variations in gain or loss on the
propagationconstant. The derivationfor a corrugationina
heterostructure laser is stillmorecomplex than that of [2]
since in the formercase the index varies both axially and trans-
versely. In this paper we present a derivation of the coupling Here and in the preceding, primes denote derivatives with re-
constant equation and report comparative calculations of TE spect to z. Next, v ( ~z ), is expressed as an unperturbed part
and TM coefficients.Generally,couplingofTEmodes is vu(x) which describes the geometry without corrugations, plus
stronger than that ofTM modes. a perturbed part v,(x, z) which characterizes the periodic cor-
rugations. Because of the periodicity, vp ( x , z) is expanded in
11. DERIVATION a Fourier series in z,whose coefficients dependon x
Consideramodeguidingstructurewithacorrugation as W

shown in Fig. 1. Only the y component of the H-field of TM v(x,z)

i2nqz/A
=vu(x>+ A q W (5)
modes is nonzero, and from Maxwell's equations with time q=-w
dependence e-iw t , H y satisfies
where

where v = l/n2(x,z) and ko = 2n/ho. We consider only guided

1
Aq(X) = I\ LA,,
At2
Vp(X3 z>e
-i2nqzlR
(6)

modes which propagate with approximatelyPo, where Upon substituting (5) into (4) and noting that R and S vary
slowly compared t o eiiPoz, so that all terms multiplying eiPoZ
mn can be collected, we obtain
po &-
A
so that DFB can occur for mth-order Bragg scattering. In (2),
A is the grating period. Thus we seek solutions of (1) in the
form

- 0; SjAm ( X ) X j - iposj
E) } = o .
-
A&)Xj (7)
In deriving (7), twotermscontaining ups;cancelandthe
Manuscript received August 18, 1975; revised September 18, 1975. relation
The authors are with the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto,
e i 2 n m z / h = eiPoz
CA 94304. e -ip,z (8)
COEFFICIENTS
STREIFER
COUPLING
et al.: TM-MODE 75

has been utilized. If Xi is then taken to be a solution of
+k;Xi=O (9)
where pi is the propagation constant of the j t h TM mode, (7)
is significantly simplifiedto read
Equation (2) was invoked in obtainirig (10) from (7). Finally,
It is important to examine (9) satisfied by X . There A o ( x )
appearsinaddition to vu. For corrugation
a ofheight
g, A (x) # 0 only for 0 < x <g. If the corrugation is rectan-
gular, A o ( x ) is constant. Then ( 9 ) describes TM modes in the
four-layerstructureshown in Fig. 2, where theindex for
0 < x < g is just the value of v = l/n2 averaged over the teeth.
Thus the unperturbed geometry for TM modes differs slightly
from that used both for TE and TM modes in [ 11 and [3],
respectively,andforourchecks on TE-modeDFBcoupling
coefficients [4]. In those cases the average of n2 was employed
in thecorrugationregion. One can show thatthetwoun-
perturbed mode formulations do not differ to first order, and
fortheDFBcalculationdescribedpreviously,fewerterms
need be neglected using the expansion of v and thus the geom-
etry of Fig. 2. If instead of v = 1 / =~l/n2 we expand €(x, z ) =
n2(x,z) as
00

(10) ismultiplied by X k , the particulartransversemode of E (X, z ) = €,(X) + B4(x)eiZnqz/*

interest, and the equation is integrated over (-=, =). Since
the modes are solutions of ( 9 ) , they satisfy the orthogonality then after a slightly more complicated calculation than that
relation presented above, we obtain

where X is now computed fromthefour-layergeometry of

* Xi&.
The second integral in (12) was obtained by using integration
by parts. The couplii~g coefficientu is thus given by
[ 11 and [3] . Equations (13) and (14) are identical to first
order since 6 v = 6 (l/e) = -6 ( € ) / e 2 .
It is also interesting to compare (14) with [2, eq. (lo)]. The
latter contains two integrals identical to those given in (14),
(1 2) but here they are of opposite signs whereas in [2] the signs are
identical.Thedifferenceoccurs because theterm resulting
from the axial variation in v is exactly twice the negative of
one term resulting from transverse variation in v . In [2] only
transverse v variations are considered.
For other than rectangular corrugation shapes A o ( x ) varies
within the layer 0 < x <g, and the calculation ofX [from ( 9 ) ]
and its integrals [in (13) or (14)] can be quite complicated.

where we have dropped the subscriptk. In only retaining terms

rx
I
"3
I
containing the k subscript, we have implicitly assumed that
only coupling between oppositely going Xk modes is of inter-
est. That is, int.egrals such as "1 I

:1 Am(x) x i ( x ) x k ( x > d xf o
(a)

SO that there could, in theory, exist coupling between oppo-

sitely going different TM modesif both had the same time
dependence and approximately thesame propagation constants
(near Po). An expression coupling R k to Si follows from col-
lecting all terms in (7) multiplied by e-i@o'. Aside from inter- "a

changing R and S , and changing the sign ofthe derivative, (b)

A,(x) must bereplaced by A -m(X) in (12) to obtain the Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of a laser with rectangular teeth. (b) Equivalent
other equation from(1 2). geometry for calculating the unperturbed modes.
76 JOURNAL IEEE FEBRUARY
ELECTRONICS,
OF QUANTUM 1976

Therefore we consider a three-layer geometry for the computa- "2

tion. In thisthree-layer geometry the interface betweenregions
1 and 2 is shifted such that the tooth areas above and below 4 t
' . t

the boundary are equal, i.e., the areas labeled A and B in Fig. 3
are equal. To illustrate the accuracy of this choice for rectan-
gular teeth, we plot in Fig. 4 values of IK I versus tooth height
computedfrom(13)and (14) forfour-layerunperturbed
structures and for the three-layer structure as shown in Fig. 3.
In all cases t = 0.8 pm. Two curvesaregiven for the three- "1
layer structure; one uses the analog of (13) with an expansion
Fig. 3. Illustrating the functions defining tooth shape.
of Y = l / n 2 , the other is analogous to (14) with e = n2 ex-
panded. The agreement is quite good; however, we find that
for large index differences at the corrugation boundary, such
as occurs at anair-GaAs interface, the various formulations for
h = 8500A
TM-mode couplingcoefficients do not agreewell. Then, of t = 0.8 u m
course, 6e is large compared to E in the grating region. In our
opinion,furtherwork is required to determinewhichfour- P
m=1

- 4 LAYERS. v EXPANDED
4 LAYERS; e EXPANDED
i
layergeometryis the more suitable for calculating K in the 3 LAYERS, Y EXPANDED
2 3 LAYERS, c EXPANDED
case of TM modes. In the remainder of this paper the unper- .'""

turbedmode X is computedforthethree-layergeometry
previously described, and the expansion of v is employed.
Consider the corrugation shown in Fig. 3. Clearly,

I O<x<g2

1 1 I 1
0 500 1000 1500 2000
CORRUGATlON HEIGHT - g l 8 )

Fig. 4. Comparison of thetheoriesforcomputingcoupling coeffi-

cients of rectangular teeth.

where x is measured from the new boundary and u(z) is the
unit step function. Upon integration,Am( x ) is given by
from (16) together with expressions for X and X ' (see the
Appendix) in (13) and evaluating the integrals either numeri-
cally or analytically. Since the form of 3C is similar to that of 8
for TE modes, the analytic results given in our earlier paper
[4] can be modified to evaluate (13).

111. RESULTS
In Fig. 5(a)-(c) we plot TE and TM coupling coefficients for
- e-i2 zrn w ( x ) / h>
a double-heterostructure GaAslaser with rectangular, trian-
gular,andsawtooth-shapedcorrugationsfor various Bragg
orders. The laser parameters are listed and t' is thecenter
layer thickness measured to the center of thecorrugations.
Fig. 5(a)-(c) are for the three propagating TE and TM modes.
- e-i2nmw, (x)/A > The particular Bragg orders and tooth shapes were chosen to
illustrate a variety of cases. Generally, K for TE modes is found
- g , < x <0 to be somewhat greater than that forTM modes. However, for
large triangular corrugations theTM modes have greater values.
x <-g1. (16)
According to [ 1] and [ 3 ], results obtainedusing unperturbed
The coupling coefficient K isfoundbysubstituting Am(x) modes computed from four-layer geometries are quite accurate
STREIFER et al.: TM-MODE COUPLING COEFFICIENTS 77

RECTANGULAR
m = 1, w/A = 0.5

0 500 1000 1500 2000

CORRUGATION HEIGHT-g (X)

1 I I I I
8- n1 = n3 = 3.3
- n2= 3.6
h = 8500A
4 - t’ = 0.8 vrn
-TEZ
--- TM2
2-

2
500 1000 1500 2000
CORRUGATION HEIGHT-g (A) HEIGHT-g
CORRUGATION (A)

(b) (C)
Fig. 5. Coupling coefficients versus tooth height for a double-hetero-
structurelaser. (a) TEoandTMo modes.(b) TE1and TM1 modes.
(e) TE2 and TM2 modes.

even forgratingheightscomparable to a wavelength in the where

material. Since our resultsagree well with the four-layer results,
h =d n m
at least for grating teeth less than 2000 A high (see Fig. 4), we
expect
our results to be accurate
this
in range. =&E 1T-
ka
APPENDIX p = fl-33
k2 -
The TM modes are given by [5]
ij = n;q/n:, P = n$p/n$
x<o and 0 is found bysolving
+ (ij/h)sin (hx), O<x<t‘
tan ( h t ’ )= h@ +
h2 - jjq‘
a
[COS(ht’) + (ij/h) sin (ht’)] e - p ( x - r ’ ) , t ‘ < x
78
The normalization integral is
t‘ (h’ t 4 ’ ) 1 (h2 t p ’ ) 1
gt(hZ+qZ)nz (h2 t p 2 ) n z p
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Dr. K. 0. Hill for calling their at-
tention to [ 2 ] .
Correspondence
On the Effect of the Addition of SF6 to a N2 Electrical
Discharge Laser
0. JUDD
Abstruct-The electron distribution function has been calculated for
simulated conditions of SF6-N’ gas mixtures under conditions typical
of a N2 electrical discharge laser. The results indicate that the electron
distributionfunction,transportquantities, andelectronicexcitation
rates change only a few percent in the presence of SF6 provided E/N is
unchanged. The enhancement in laser power output with the addition
of SF6 is attributed to anincreased operating valueof E/N in the
electrical discharge.
Recently, several experimental investigations have been re-
ported concerning theeffects of theaddition of SF6 to an
electrically excited N2 discharge laser operating on the second
positive C 3 nu + B ng electronic transition. The experiments
may be classified into two types. In the first type, the dis-
charge geometry and external circuitry are such as t o allow a
deposition of energy into the gas on a time scale of less than
50 ns [ 1 ] -[ 31. With the addition of a small amount of SF6 to
<
the N2 (SF6/N2 0.2), it is observed that the optical output
intensity increases by 30-100 percent and that in some cases
the optical pulsewidth (10 ns) increases by a factor of 2 [ 31.
The transition observed is the u’ = 0 + u” = 0 transition at
337.1 nm. Typical discharge conditions are 20-30 torr of N2
and a ratio of electric field E to total gas density N of E/N
2 X V/cm2. In the second class of experiments, the
energy is deposited into a discharge of 40 torr of N2 on a time
scale of 500 ns. As the ratio SF6/N2 was increased to 1.0, it
was observed that the laser emission increased in intensity and
a significant broadening of the opticalpulsewidth occurred [ 41 .
To date, optical pulsewidths in excess of 70 ns have been re-
ported. In addition, both the v’ = 0 u’’ = 0 and v’ = o-+~‘‘
-+ =1
transitions at 337.1 and 357.6 nm, respectively, were observed.
ManuscriptreceivedAugust 1 , 1975. This work was supported by
the Energy Research and Development Administration.
The author is with the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, University
of California, Los Alamos, NM 87544.
IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, FEBRUARY 1976
REFERENCES
K. Handa, S. T. Peng, and T. Tamir, “Improved perturbation anal-
ysis of dielectric gratings,”Appl. Phys., vol. 5, pp. 325-328, 1975.
W. H. Weber, S. L. McCarthy, and G. W. Ford, “Perturbation
theory applied to gain or loss in an optical waveguide,” Appl. Opt.,
VO~ 13,
. pp. 715-716, 1974.
S. T. PengandT.Tamir,“TM-mode perturbation analysis of
dielectric gratings,” Appl.Phys., vol. 7, pp. 35-38, 1975.
W. Streifer, D. R. Scifres, and R. D. Burnham,“Couplingcoeffi-
cients for distributed feedback single- and double-heterostructure
diode lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-11, pp. 867-
873, Nov. 1975.
A. Yariv, “Coupled-mode theory for guided-wave optics,” IEEEJ.
Quantum Electron., vol. QE-9,pp. 919-933, Sept. 1973.
In this correspondence wewill be concerned primarilywith
experiments of the first class. It has been suggested that the
resulting laser behavior with the addition of SF6 is due to a
modification of the electron distribution function in the elec-
trical discharge such as to favor excitation of the C 371u and
B 3ng states [ 21. A theoretical simulation has been performed
for the resulting electron distribution function in aN2-SF6
discharge for the conditions of the experiments. The results
indicate that the electron distribution function, electron ex-
citation rates, and discharge transport properties only change
a few percent with the addition of SF6 provided E/N is held
constant. As an alternateexplanationforthe observed N2
laser behavior, it appears that the enhanced laser output can
be attributed to increases of E/N with the additionof SF6.
The electron distribution functionwas calculated numerically
from a self-consistentsolution of the Boltzmann transport equa-
tion using well-known techniques which are summarized [ 5 l .
The N2 electronic excitation cross sections for theA 3 Z , B 3 ~ ,
C 3rr, and W 3A were based on values revised byCartwright
et al. [ 6 ] . The electron vibrational cross sections for N2 are
those obtained by Schulz [ 71 . No published data on the elec-
tronicand vibrational excitation cross sections forelectron
impact on SF6 were found in the literature. In order to de-
termine the qualitative effectsof SF6 on the distribution func-
tion, it was necessary to simulate some of the SF6 inelastic
cross sections. Previous calculations of this type indicate that
if the inelastic electron loss processes are distributed more or
less uniformly inenergyspace, the form of the distribution
function, and in particular the excitation rates, are rather in-
sensitive to the exact character of the cross sections [ 5 ] . This
cross-section behavior is assumed to be representative of SF6.
As a first approximation we simulate the electronic and vibra-
tional cross sectionsin SF6 by those that have beenexperi-
mentally determined for C 0 2 . A much more important
property of SF6 that mustbe takenintoaccount more ac-
curately is electronattachment which tends t o depletethe
low-energy electron component of the distribution function.
The cross sections for electron attachment and ionization in
SF6 were taken from Asundi and Craggs [ 81.
The calculated results for the electron distribution function
f ( u ) for two values of E/N are shown in Fig. 1. The solid lines
are the electron distributions in pure N2 and the dotted lines