Many body theory of strained-quantum-well laser media

Optical and electronic properties of lattice matched and strained quantum well laser media are analyzed for high carrier densities, combining many-body and band structure engineering techniques. The compressive strain yields more efficient inversion with consequent lower threshold carrier densities. The combined influence of strain and Coulomb effects on the (alpha) -factor causes a complicated dependence of (alpha) on the quantum well structure, laser frequency, carrier density, and threshold gain as observed in experiments.