Dependence of heterolaser degradation on the pumping conditions

An analysis is made of a model of degradation of injection heterolasers which allows for the initial conditions and for the criterion of failure. It is shown that when the laser radiation power density is less than 1.0 MW/cm², the rate of ageing is governed mainly by the pump current and temperature. The expressions for the threshold current as a function of the duration of test are obtained for the cases of a constant output radiation power and a constant pump current.