Adding spin-polarized carriers to semiconductor lasers strongly changes their properties and, through the transfer of angular momentum, leads to the emission of circularly polarized light. In such spin-lasers, the polarization of the emitted light can be modulated an order of magnitude faster than its intensity in the best conventional lasers. This ultrafast operation in spin-lasers relies on large linear birefringence, usually viewed as detrimental in spin and conventional lasers, which couples the two linearly polarized emission modes. We show that the dynamical properties of birefringent spin-lasers under intensity and polarization modulation are accurately described as coupled harmonic oscillators. Our model agrees with the intensity-equation description which, unlike the common complex field components describing the role of birefringence in laser dynamics, uses simpler real quantities and allows analytical solutions. We further predict unexplored operation regimes and elucidate the difference between the weak and strong coupling in spin-lasers.

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• Spin injection
• Spin optoelectronics
• Spin polarization
• Spin relaxation
• Quantum wells
• Cavity resonators
• Laser techniques