THE LASER TRANSITION AND PHOTON ENERGY OF GaAs IN THE LIGHTLY-DOPED LIMIT

Abstract

Data are presented showing that lightly doped or relatively pure GaAs lases basically by a band-to-band recombination transition at a photon energy at threshold of 1.495 eV ≈ Eg − 0.015 eV (∼77°K). The ∼0.015-eV energy reduction from bandgap, which is greater than the exciton binding energy of 0.0034 eV (∼77°K) and unlike the exciton energy is dependent upon carrier concentration, occurs because of many-body, electron-hole-lattice (EHL) interactions.