InAs-Based Interband Cascade Laser Operating at 5.17 μm in Continuous Wave Above Room Temperature

Abstract

We report an InAs-based interband cascade laser emitting at <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula> = <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.17\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in continuous wave mode up to a maximum temperature of 41 °C, that increases the maximum continuous wave operating temperature by 66 °C for InAs-based interband cascade lasers emitting around <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.2~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . At <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula> = 20 °C, an output power of 10 mW was achieved for a 10- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}\times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -mm ridge waveguide device with one facet coated for high reflection and epitaxial-side-down mounting. The broad-area device processed from the same laser wafer exhibited a pulsed threshold current density as low as 306 A/cm2 at room temperature, the lowest ever reported for semiconductor lasers emitting at similar wavelengths.