Abstract

Previous mid-IR lasers based on radiative electron-hole recombination in III-V semiconductors having Type-I or nearly Type-I band alignments have displayed low maximum operating temperatures (T_max≤211 K for λ ≥ 3.3µm) and low characteristic temperatures (T₀ ≤ 60 K for λ 2.9 µm). Performances have been limited predominantly by Auger recombination and inadequate electrical confinement of the electrons and holes. However, Type-II superlattices and quantum wells (QW) employing the InAs-GaSb-AISb family have recently been proposed as a promising alternative, which is predicted to overcome these fundamental limitations and offer significantly improved performance.^1,2 Here we report record T_maxand T₀ from an experimental characterization of Type-II InAs-Ga₇₀In₃₀Sb-InAs-AISb multiple QWs with four constituents in each period. The structure was designed to maximize the wavefunction overlap while constraining both electrons and holes to have a 2D density of states.²

© 1996 Optical Society of America