Room Temperature Operation of Al0.17Ga0.83Sb/GaSb Multi-Quantum Well Lasers Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract
A room-temperature lasing-operation by current injection to Al0.17Ga0.83Sb/GaSb multi-quantum well (MQW) lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is demonstrated. A pulsed threshold current density of 8.9 kA/cm2 was obtained for the diode whose active layer consists of 16 periods of 91 Å thick GaSb well layers separated by 31 Å thick Al0.17Ga0.83Sb barrier layers. The observed lasing energy (0.753 eV) is 27 meV higher than the energy gap of GaSb, indicating the quantum size effect.