Reduced optical waveguide losses of a partially disordered GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well laser structure for photonic integrated circuits

Abstract

We present TE and TM waveguide loss measurements of partially disordered GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well separate confinement laser structures. Disordering is accomplished by silicon ion implanation and subsequent annealing. Propagation losses as low as 9 cm−1 are observed at the lasing wavelength of the corresponding untreated laser wafer. The waveguides are shown to be compatible with fabrication and dimensional requirements of high quality semiconductor lasers; ridge waveguide lasers fabricated in unimplanted portions of the same wafer exhibit threshold currents of only 8 mA. The results show that impurity-induced quantum well disordering is suitable for monolithic integration of low-threshold quantum well lasers and transparent optical waveguides.