The Hydrostatic Pressure Dependence of the Threshold Current in 1.3 ?m InGaAsP Quantum Well Semiconductor Diode Lasers

Phillips, A.F.; Sweeney, Stephen J.; Adams, A.R.; Thijs, P.J.A.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1521-3951(199901)211:1<513::aid-pssb513>3.0.co;2-7

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…In Fig. 3 8,10,17,18 causing J th to reduce with pressure due to the decrease in the Auger current with pressure. We therefore propose that the nonradiative recombination current which dominates J th for the GaAsSb devices at room temperature is due to a combination of carrier leakage and Auger recombination.…”

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Carrier recombination in 1.3μm GaAsSb∕GaAs quantum well lasers

Hild

Sweeney

Wright

et al. 2006

Applied Physics Letters

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In this letter the authors present a comprehensive study of the threshold current and its temperature dependence in GaAsSb-based quantum well edge-emitting lasers for emission at 1.3 m. It is found that at room temperature, the threshold current is dominated by nonradiative recombination accounting for more than 90% of the total threshold current density. From high hydrostatic pressure dependence measurements, a strong increase in threshold current with pressure is observed, suggesting that the nonradiative recombination process may be attributed to electron overflow into the GaAs/ GaAsP barrier layers and, to a lesser extent, to Auger recombination. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.2369649͔Lasers emitting close to 1.3 m are of considerable importance for the development of metro-area networks. 1Progress in this area has been hindered largely by the need to significantly reduce the cost of the laser module itself. The incumbent InGaAsP quantum well ͑QW͒ material system used to make such lasers suffers from two problems: Firstly, the fact that they are grown on InP makes it difficult to produce vertical cavity surface emitting lasers ͑VCSELs͒ which are vastly more cost effective but are better suited to GaAs substrates. Secondly, the devices are highly susceptible to temperature variations resulting in the need to incorporate sophisticated temperature control electronics into the package, leading to an order of magnitude increase in cost. Hence, there has been considerable effort devoted to the development of GaAs-based laser active regions which emit at 1.3 m. InAs quantum dots 2 and GaInNAs-based QWs have been the subject of extensive research. However, the properties of even the best quantum dot lasers are far from ideal, since their threshold current density increases quickly with temperature around room temperature due to nonradiative recombination resulting in a low characteristic temperature, T 0 ϳ 50 K ͓T 0 = ͑d ln I th / dT͒ −1 ͔, similar to that of standard 1.3 m QW based lasers.3 P-doped quantum dot lasers can exhibit very high T 0 values ͑even infinite over a narrow temperature range͒, but this is achieved at the expense of higher threshold currents compared with undoped devices.4 For GaInNAs-based QW lasers, it has been shown that even for the best 1.3 m devices available, approximately 50% of the threshold current at room temperature may be attributed to defect-related recombination. 5 The implications of this on long-term device stability have yet to be fully addressed. Another possibility is the use of GaAsSb/ GaAs QWs.6 Lasers based upon this material have been produced, 7 but little, if any, research has been undertaken to assess the carrier recombination and temperature dependent processes occurring in such devices. The aim of this letter is to consider the characteristics of GaAsSb/ GaAs-based edge-emitting lasers and to explore the potential of GaAsSb/ GaAs active regions for use in 1.3 m VCSELs.The devices in this study consist of a triple GaAs 0.9 P 0.1 / GaAs/ GaAs 0.7...

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Carrier recombination in 1.3μm GaAsSb∕GaAs quantum well lasers

Hild

Sweeney

Wright

et al. 2006

Applied Physics Letters

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High‐pressure studies of the recombination processes, threshold currents, and lasing wavelengths in InAs/GaInAs quantum dot lasers

Marko

Andreev

Adams

et al. 2003

Physica Status Solidi (b)

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The threshold current of broad area GRINSCH InAs quantum dot (QD) lasers has been measured as a function of hydrostatic pressure in the range of 0 -12 kbar. The laser emission photon energy, E laser , increases linearly with pressure, p, at 10.1 meV/kbar and 8.3 meV/kbar for 980 nm and 1.3 µm QD lasers, respectively. For the 980 nm QD lasers the threshold current increases with pressure at a rate proportional to the square of the photon energy, E 2 laser . However, the threshold current of the 1.3 µm QD laser decreases by 26% over a 12 kbar pressure range, demonstrating the importance of the Auger recombination in 1.3 µm QD lasers. The results are discussed in the framework of a theoretical model based on the electronic structure and radiative recombination calculations carried out using an 8 × 8 k ⋅ p Hamiltonian.Introduction Quantum dot (QD) lasers are now receiving a great deal of attention. Because of the atomic-like nature of the discrete energy spectrum of the carriers localised in the quantum dot, it is predicted that they will be much more temperature stable compared to conventional quantum well lasers [1,2]. This is particularly important for devices designed to operate at 1.3 µm where optical fibres have zero dispersion. In fact, nearly temperature insensitive performance was indeed observed in 1.3 µm QD lasers in the temperature range of 100 -200 K [3]. However, at room temperature the lasers studied in [3] exhibit an even worse temperature performance compared to available quantum well devices. Therefore it is very important to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for QD laser operation at higher (>250 K) temperatures.High pressure provides a powerful tool to study the recombination mechanisms responsible for the device performance, as was demonstrated for quantum well lasers [4,5]. Applying high pressure allows the energy of the emitted photons, E laser , to be varied while keeping the other basic properties of the structure unchanged. Various recombination mechanisms have characteristic dependencies on E laser . For example, the radiative recombination contribution to the laser threshold current usually increases with pressure as E

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Carrier recombination processes in 1.3 μm and 1.5 μm InGaAs(P)‐based lasers at cryogenic temperatures and high pressures

Sweeney

Jin

Ahmad

et al. 2004

Physica Status Solidi (b)

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We describe measurements of the threshold current of 1.3 µm and 1.5 µm InGaAs(P)-based quantum-well lasers measured at cryogenic temperatures and at high pressures. At low temperatures (~100 K), we find that the threshold current of the devices increases with increasing pressure consistent with the calculated pressure variation of the radiative current. This is in sharp contrast with their pressure dependence at room temperature (RT), where the threshold current decreases with increasing pressure due to the decrease in importance of Auger recombination. These low-temperature, high-pressure results agree well with previous temperature dependence measurements on the same devices, which show a transition from radiative to non-radiative Auger recombination dominated behaviour as the laser temperature is increased from ~100 K to room temperature.

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The Hydrostatic Pressure Dependence of the Threshold Current in 1.3 ?m InGaAsP Quantum Well Semiconductor Diode Lasers

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Carrier recombination in 1.3μm GaAsSb∕GaAs quantum well lasers

Carrier recombination in 1.3μm GaAsSb∕GaAs quantum well lasers

High‐pressure studies of the recombination processes, threshold currents, and lasing wavelengths in InAs/GaInAs quantum dot lasers

Carrier recombination processes in 1.3 μm and 1.5 μm InGaAs(P)‐based lasers at cryogenic temperatures and high pressures

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