Free-carrier screening of polarization fields in wurtzite GaN/InGaN laser structures

Abstract

The free-carrier screening of macroscopic polarization fields in wurtzite GaN/InGaN quantum well lasers is investigated via a self-consistent tight-binding approach. We show that the high carrier concentrations found experimentally in nitride laser structures effectively screen the built-in spontaneous and piezoelectricpolarization fields, thus inducing a “field-free” band profile. Our results explain some heretofore puzzling experimental data on nitride lasers, such as the unusually high lasing excitation thresholds and emission blue shifts for increasing excitation levels.