Characteristics of CW violet laser diodes grown by MBE

In this paper we report on progress in the development of nitride laser diodes by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We review the steps taken to achieve continuous wave (CW) operation of 405nm lasers grown by MBE and evaluate the performance of such devices. The future potential of the growth method for lasers depends on the demonstration of long lived lasers with good operating characteristics such as high power output and low threshold current. We assess the challenges to achieving such performance in MBE-grown lasers and the progress in evaluating the key laser parameters in our devices.