Bandedge-engineered quantum well laser

A promising type of quantum well (QW) lasers is discussed—bandedge-engineered (BE) QW lasers. The use of two asymmetric barrier layers (one on each side of the QW) in such lasers prevents establishing a bipolar population in the optical confinement layer (OCL) and thus suppresses the parasitic electron–hole recombination there. We discuss semiconductor alloys suitable for pseudomorphic growth of BE QW lasers on GaAs substrates and propose material compositions for such lasers. We use an analytical model to calculate the device characteristics. Due to suppression of the recombination in the OCL, the threshold current density of a BE QW laser is considerably reduced and the characteristic temperature T0 is increased compared to conventional QW lasers. Ideally, T0 of a BE QW laser can be as high as 300 K at room temperature. In more realistic BE QW lasers incorporating thin indent layers (located between the QW and each of the asymmetric barrier layers), the threshold current density is still low, and T0 is above 200 K for practical cavity lengths. Our results suggest that BE QW lasers offer major advantages over conventional QW lasers for low-threshold and high-temperature-stable operation.