Bulk unrelaxed InAsSb alloys with Sb compositions up to 44 % and layer thicknesses up to 3 µm were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The alloys showed photoluminescence (PL) energies as low as 0.12 eV at T = 13 K. The electroluminescence and quantum efficiency data demonstrated with unoptimized barrier heterostructures at T= 80 and 150 K suggested large absorption and carrier lifetimes sufficient for the development of long wave infrared detectors and emitters with high quantum efficiency. The minority hole transport was found to be adequate for development of the detectors and emitters with large active layer thickness.
The optical properties of bulk unrelaxed InAsSb layers having a low temperature photoluminescence (PL) peak up to 10
μm are presented. The materials were grown on GaSb substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The lattice mismatch
between the epilayers and GaSb substrates was accommodated with linearly graded GaAlInSb buffers. An 11-meV width
of PL at full-width half-maximum was measured for InAsSb with Sb compositions of 20 and 44% . The best fit for the
dependence of the energy gap on Sb composition was obtained with a 0.9-eV bowing parameter. Temperature
dependences of the energy gap for InAsSb alloys with 20 % and 44% Sb were determined from PL spectra in the
temperature range from 12 to 300 K. A T=77 K minority carrier lifetime up to 350 ns in undoped InAsSb layers with
20% Sb was determined from PL kinetics.
GaInSb and AlGaInSb compositionally graded buffer layers grown on GaSb by MBE were used to develop
unrelaxed InAs1-XSbXepilayers with lattice constants up to 2.1 % larger than that of GaSb. The InAsSb buffer
layer was used to grow InAs0.12Sb0.88 layer on InSb. The structural and optical characterization of 1-μm thick
InAs1-xSbx layers was performed together with measurements of the carrier lifetime.
Minority carrier lifetime, photoluminescence (PL), and interband absorption in midinfrared range of spectra were
measured in InAs/GaSb strained-layer superlattices (SLS) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaSb substrates.
The carrier lifetime was determined by time-resolved PL (TRPL) and from analysis of PL response to sine-wavemodulated
excitation. Studies of the PL kinetics in the frequency domain allowed for direct lifetime measurements in
SLS structures with an excess carrier concentration level of 3.5×1015 cm-3. The minority carrier lifetime at T = 77 K was
obtained from the dependence of the carrier lifetime on excitation power. SLS structures with similar absorption
wavelengths but with different InAs and GaSb layer thicknesses and with different amounts of strain were investigated
and compared with mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) samples. No apparent trend was seen in structures with different
number of interfaces per unit length. All SLS lifetime values measured so far are more than an order of magnitude lower
than those of MCT.
The paper describes the heterostructures and device output parameters of Type-I quantum-well (QW) laser diodes with
InGaAsSb active regions designed for room-temperature operation near 2.3 μm and 3.1 μm. For both designs decrease of
the threshold current density and increase of the room-temperature output power have been achieved with increase of the
QW depth for holes. For the 2.3 μm laser diodes, confinement of holes in the QW embedded into the AlGaAsSb
waveguide was improved with increase of the hole energy level with compressive strain. Arrays of 1-mm-long 100-μmwide
laser diode emitters with a fill-factor of 30 % have been fabricated. A quasi-CW (30 μs, 300 Hz) output power of
16.7 W from a 4-mm-wide array has been obtained with conductive cooling. For the laser diodes designed for roomtemperature
operation above 3 μm, the hole confinement was improved by lowering the valence band energy in the
waveguide. Two approached were implemented: one with increase of the Al composition, and another with utilization of
quinternary InAlGaAsSb waveguide with increased As composition compared to the conventional AlGaAsSb
waveguide. With the quinternary waveguide approach, a room-temperature CW output power in excess of 130 mW and
a threshold current as low as 0.6 A have been obtained at λ = 3 μm from 2-mm-long 100-μm-wide emitters.
High wall-plug efficiency and a wide range of available wavelengths make laser diode arrays preferable for many high-power applications, including optical pumping of solid state lasers. Recently, we designed and fabricated InGaAsP/InP arrays operating at 1.5-μm and In(Al)GaAsSb/GaSb arrays operating at 2.3-μm. We have demonstrated a high continuous-wave (CW) output power of 25 W from a one dimensional laser array and a quasi-CW (q-CW) output power of 110 W from a two dimensional laser array both operating near 1.5-μm. We have obtained a CW output power of 10 W from the 2.3-μm laser array. The 1.5-μm arrays are suitable for resonant pumping of erbium doped solid-state lasers, which require high power optical sources emitting in the narrow erbium absorption bands. Long current-injection pulses produce a considerable temperature increase within the diode laser structure which induces a red-shift of the output wavelength. This thermal drift of the laser array emission spectrum can lead to misalignment with the erbium absorption bands, which decreases pumping efficiency. We have developed an experimental technique to measure the time dependence of the laser emission spectrum during a single current pulse. From the red-shift of the laser emission, we determine the temperature of the laser active region as a function of time.
The spacing between the individual laser emitters has an effect on the array heating. In steady state operation, this spacing is a contributing factor in the non-uniformity of the thermal field within the bar, and thus to the overall thermal resistance of the laser bar. Under pulse operation, the transient heating process can be divided into three time periods; each with its own heat transport condition. It was shown that in the initial period of time the heat propagates within the laser bar structure and the laser bar design (fill factor) strongly affects the active region temperature rise. In the later periods the temperature kinetics is insensitive to the fill factor. This analysis has been verified in experimental studies using the 1.5-μm laser arrays.
Gain in broad area mid-infrared diode W lasers ((lambda) =3- 3.1micrometers ) has been measured using lateral mode spatial filtering combined with the Hakki-Paoli approach. The internal optical loss of approximately equals 19cm-1 determined from the gain spectra was the same for devices with either 10- or 5-period active regions and nearly constant in the temperature range between 80 and 160K. Analysis of the differential gain and spontaneous emission spectra shows that the main contribution to the temperature dependence of the threshold current is Auger recombination, which dominates within almost the entire temperature range studied (80-160K).
Mark Hybertsen, Muhammad Alam, Gleb Shtengel, Gregory Belenky, C. Reynolds, Dmitri Donetsky, R. Kent Smith, Gene Baraff, Rudolf Kazarinov, James Wynn, L. Smith
Temperature dependencies of the threshold current, device slope efficiency and heterobarrier electron leakage current from the active region of InGaAsP/InP multi-quantum-well lasers with different profiles of acceptor doping were measured. We demonstrate that the temperature sensitivity of the device characteristics depends on the profile of p- doping, and that the variance in the temperature behavior of the threshold current and slope efficiency for lasers with different doping profiles cannot be explained by the change of the measured value of the leakage current with doping only. We show that doping of the p-cladding/SCH layer interface in InGaAsP/InP multi-quantum-well lasers leads to improvement of the device temperature performance. We also show that doping of the active region increases the value of the optical loss without degradation of characteristic temperature T0.
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