PbSe quantum well mid-infrared vertical external cavity surface emitting laser on Si-substrates

Mid-infrared vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers based on PbSe/PbSrSe multi-quantum-well structures on Si-substrates are realized. A modular design allows growing the active region and the bottom Bragg mirror on two different Si-substrates, thus facilitating comparison between different structures. Lasing is observed from 3.3 to 5.1 mu m wavelength and up to 52 degrees C heat sink temperature with 1.55 mu m optical pumping. Simulations show that threshold powers are limited by Shockley-Read recombination with lifetimes as short as 0.1 ns. At higher temperatures, an additional threshold power increase occurs probably due to limited carrier diffusion length and carrier leakage, caused by an unfavorable band alignment. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3579450]