Microdisk lasers based on heterostructures with HgCdTe quantum wells: technology and optical properties

Abstract Heterostructures with quantum wells based on the ternary alloy HgCdTe have recently been reconsidered as a material for the mid-infrared lasers. In this work, we study the emission from HgCdTe microdisks of different diameters under optical "in well" pumping. The operating temperature of microdisk lasers appears to be limited by the output losses. However, Peltier cooling is shown to be enough to achieve lasing in the atmospheric transparency window near 4 μm with optical threshold power less than 1 W.