Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of type-I GaSb-based lasers at 3.1 μm

Type-I interband lasers on GaSb were grown by molecular beam epitaxy using 16 nm InGaAsSb compressively-strained quantum wells (QWs) with 30 nm AlInGaAsSb quinary barriers for improved hole confinement. The 3QW active regions were embedded in standard AlGaAsSb waveguides to limit the thickness of quinary material owing to its low growth temperature requirements. In continuous-wave operation, a typical ridge waveguide laser (width 10 mum, length 1214 mum) produced 6 mW total output power at 20degC with a threshold current of 140 mA. The temperature sensitivity of the devices remains a challenge, as evidenced by the dramatically improved performance at 0degC (16 mW total output power, threshold current 74 mA).