Suppression of sublinearity of light–current curve in 850 nm quantum well laser with asymmetric barrier layers

• Published in: Electronics letters 2015-07, Vol.51 (14), p.1106-1108
• Main Authors: Zubov, F.I, Maximov, M.V, Shernyakov, Yu.M, Kryzhanovskaya, N.V, Semenova, E.S, Yvind, K, Asryan, L.V, Zhukov, A.E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AlGaAs‐GaAs; AlGaInAs; aluminium compounds; asymmetric barrier layers; catastrophic optical mirror damage; current densities; current density; GaInP; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; III‐V semiconductors; indium compounds; laser beams; light‐current characteristic; light‐current curve; maximum lasing power; optical confinement layer; parasitic recombination; Photonics; power 9.2 W; quantum well laser; quantum well lasers; spontaneous emission; sublinearity suppression; wavelength 850 nm
• ISSN: 0013-5194; 1350-911X; 1350-911X
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2015.1392

An AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) laser is fabricated with GaInP and AlGaInAs asymmetric barrier layers (ABLs) and its light–current characteristic (LCC) is compared with that of a reference conventional QW laser without ABLs. It was found that the use of the ABLs suppresses the sublinearity of the LCC at high current densities. As a result, the maximum lasing power of 9.2 W, being limited by catastrophic optical mirror damage, is achieved at a considerably lower operating current in the laser with ABLs as compared to the reference laser (12.5 against 20.2 A). The ABL effect is associated with the suppression of the parasitic recombination in the optical confinement layer, as confirmed by a decrease of the intensity of the spontaneous emission from the layer.