Room temperature operation of quantum cascade lasers monolithically integrated onto a lattice-mismatched substrate

Abstract

Experimental data for an InP-based 40-stage quantum cascade laser structure grown on a 6-in. GaAs substrate with a metamorphic buffer are reported. The laser structure had an Al0.78In0.22As/In0.73Ga0.27As strain-balanced active region composition and an 8 μm-thick, all-InP waveguide. High reflection coated 3 mm × 30 μm devices processed from the wafer into a ridge-waveguide configuration with a lateral current injection scheme delivered over 200 mW of total peak power at 78 K with lasing observed up to 170 K. No signs of performance degradation were observed during a preliminary 200-min reliability testing. Temperature dependence for threshold current and slope efficiency in the range from 78 K to 230 K can be described with characteristic temperatures of T0 ≈ 460 K and T1 ≈ 210 K, respectively. Lasing was extended to 303 K by applying a partial high reflection coating to the front facet of the laser.