Semiconductor optical device

Abstract

One of the embodiments of the present invention has a purpose to provide a kink-free semiconductor optical device stabilizing a laser oscillation and obtaining a high optical performance. In particular, one of the aspects of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor optical device including a beam waveguide extending in a longitudinal direction between a pair of end surfaces. The beam waveguide includes an active layer of a quantum well structure having at least one well and barrier layers, and a pair of cladding layers sandwiching the active layer. The active layer has a first and second regions in the longitudinal direction, formed so as to have a photon density in the first region greater than that of the second region. The first region has a differential gain greater than that of the second region so that a variation of refractive index across the beam waveguide is reduced.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.