On the rate equations of semiconductor lasers for measuring spontaneous emission factor

The rate equations used for measuring spontaneous emission factor /spl beta/ is examined through the comparison of numerical results. The results show that /spl beta/ obtained by using total spontaneous emission rate R/sub sp/=N//spl tau//sub sp/ is about double of that using R/sub sp/=BN/sup 2/. The magnitude difference between the measured /spl beta/ and that predicted by classical theory [8] will disappear by using more reasonable R/sub sp/=BN/sup 2/. The results also show that the magnitude of /spl beta/ may be underestimated by ignoring the nonradiative recombination rates. >