A systematic study of a series of InGaAs/GaAs lasers in the 1−1.3 µm optical range based on quantum wells (2D), quantum dots (0D), and quantum well-dots of transitional(0D/2D) dimensionality is presented. In a wide range of pump currents, the dependences of the lasing wavelength on the layer gain constant, a parameter which allows comparing lasers with different types of active region and various waveguide designs, are measured and analyzed. It is shown that the maximum optical gain of the quantum well-dots is significantly higher, and the range of lasing rawavelengths achievable in edge-emitting lasers without external resonators is wider than in lasers based on quantum wells and quantum dots.

An improved technique for thermal resistance mea- surement of edge-emitting diode lasers using spontaneous emission spectra, collected through the opening in the n-contact within the range of operating currents, has been proposed. The advantage of the proposed technique is that systematic errors typical for measurements based on lasing spectra are excluded. The accuracy of the method was verified by measuring the dependence of the thermal resistance on the cavity length for diode lasers with 100 μm strip width. Obtained results are in good agreement with the model, and the minimum measurement error was ±0.1 K/W. The proposed technique can be used in metrological support of fabrication process of semiconductor lasers.

The temperature characteristics of ring lasers with a diameter of 480 μm of an original design with an active region based on 10 layers of InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots are studied. The lasers demonstrated a low threshold current density (200 A/cm2 at 20°C CW), the characteristic temperature of the threshold current in the range of 20–100°C was 68 K, the maximum lasing temperature was as high as 130oC. These values are only slightly inferior to the parameters of the edge-emitting lasers fabricated from the same epitaxial wafer.