Owing to their high integration and functionality, nanometer-scale optoelectronic devices based on III-V semiconductor materials are emerging as an enabling technology for fiber-optic communication applications. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) with the three-dimensional carrier confinement offer potential advantages to such optoelectronic devices in terms of high modulation bandwidth, low threshold current density, temperature insensitivity, reduced saturation fluence, and wavelength flexibility. In this paper, we review the development of the molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth methods, material properties, and device characteristics of semiconductor QDs. Two kinds of III-V QD-based lasers for optical communication are summarized: one is the active electrical pumped lasers, such as the Fabry-Perot lasers, the distributed feedback lasers, and the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, and the other is the passive lasers and the instance of the semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors mode-locked lasers. By analyzing the pros and cons of the different QD lasers by their structures, mechanisms, and performance, the challenges that arise when using these devices for the applications of fiber-optic communication have been presented.
Keywords: active electrical pumped lasers; mode-locked laser; molecular beam epitaxy; quantum dots; semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors.