Simulation of broad spectral bandwidth emitters at 1060 nm for optical coherence tomography

The simulation of broad spectral bandwidth light sources (semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) and superluminescent diodes (SLD)) for application in ophthalmic optical coherence tomography is reported. The device requirements and origin of key device parameters are outlined, and a range of single and double InGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) active elements are simulated with a view to application in different OCT embodiments. We confirm that utilising higher order optical transitions is beneficial for single QW SOAs, but may introduce deleterious spectral modulation in SLDs. We show how an addition QW may be introduced to eliminate this spectral modulation, but that this results in a reduction of the gain spectrum width. We go on to explore double QW structures where the roles of the two QWs are reversed, with the narrow QW providing long wavelength emission and gain. We show how this modification in the density of states results in a significant increase in gain-spectrum width for a given current. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.