Abstract

One milestone in the II–VI semiconductor diode lasers was reached recently with the reported demonstration of brief cw laser operation in ZnSe-based quantum well (QW) devices at room temperature, where high reflectivity resonator facet coatings and efforts at efficient heat sinking were employed to reach the conditions necessary for lasing.¹ Furthermore, the electrical bias necessary for laser operation was high, especially in terms of the threshold voltage (V_th ~ 10 V). By adapting a particular scheme for improved electrical contacting, in conjunction with an index guided, ridge-waveguide diode laser we show here that continuous wave operation at room temperature can be obtained from these types of devices, without resorting to facet coatings, at voltages of about 4 V.²

© 1994 Optical Society of America