Continuous room-temperature operation of GaAs-Al<i>x</i>Ga1−<i>x</i>As double-heterostructure lasers prepared by molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

The continuous (cw) operation at temperatures as high as 100 °C of stripe-geometry GaAs-AlxGa1−xAs double-heterostructure lasers fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxial (MBE) techniques has been achieved. Improved MBE laser performance was the result of the extensive efforts to eliminate hydrocarbon and water vapor from the growth apparatus. For 12-μm-wide stripe-geometry lasers with 380-μm-long cavities, the cw threshold currents varied between 163 and 297 mA at room temperature.