New structures of GaAlAs lateral-injection laser for low-threshold and single-mode operation

Abstract

Two new structures of lateral-injection transverse junction stripe (TJS) lasers, in which the stripe geometry is formed by the double heterojunctions, have been developed. These lasers, the homojunction type and the single-heterojunction type, have a self-reverse-biased p-n junction for concentrating current into the narrow active region. The temperature dependence of the threshold current has been very much improved in one of the new structures, the homojunction type, and is fair compared with those of good conventional broad-contact lasers. The threshold current does not increase rapidly up to 350 K in the homojunction lasers. These lasers exhibit improved characteristics of low threshold, the single longitudinal mode oscillation as well as the single fundamental transverse-mode oscillation, and "kink-free" behavior in the current depedence of the light-output power.