Abstract

Output powers of AlGaAs laser diodes are limited by catastrophic degradation due to absorptive thermal runaway at the facet. If the band gap of the material at the facet can be increased to decrease optical absorption (produce a window), the threshold for such degradation can be increased. Impurity- induced disordering (IID) has been shown to be a viable technique to Increase selectively the band gap of quantum-well material by enhancing interdiffusion of discrete layers¹ within the laser structure, thereby averaging the composition of the cladding and active layers. Previously, window lasers have been fabricated using Zn IID,² but, duo to the high concentration of Zn necessary for disordering, a high-free-carrier absorption resulted. It has been observed that the concentrations of Si required for Si IID³ are significantly lower than those for Zn,⁴ which makes Si an attractive alternative for window laser fabrication.

© 1987 Optical Society of America