Strained II-VI Quantum Well for a Room-Temperature Blue-Green Laser

Abstract

Theoretical study on the effects of the biaxial compressive strain on the optical gain of the strained-layer Cd _x Zn_1-x Se-ZnS _y Se_1-y quantum-well blue-green laser is presented for the first time with the band mixing effects taken into account. Calculated gain of a Cd _x Zn_1-x Se-ZnS _y Se_1-y quantum well shows a remarkable enhancement with increasing biaxial compressive strain (in abosulte value) of a quantum well. In particular, the linear gain becomes one third of that of a GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well with a same well width when the biaxial compressive strain is ζ=-45 meV, allowing the CdZnSe quantum well laser favorable for room-temperature operation.