Coaxial GaAs-AlGaAs core-multishell nanowire lasers with epitaxial gain control

Abstract

We demonstrate the growth and single-mode lasing operation of GaAs-AlGaAs core-multishell nanowires (NW) with radial single and multiple GaAs quantum wells (QWs) as active gain media. When subject to optical pumping lasing emission with distinct s-shaped input-output characteristics, linewidth narrowing and emission energies associated with the confined QWs are observed. Comparing the low temperature performance of QW NW laser structures having 7 coaxial QWs with a nominally identical structure having only a single QW shows that the threshold power density reduces several-fold, down to values as low as ∼2.4 kW/cm2 for the multiple QW NW laser. This confirms that the individual radial QWs are electronically weakly coupled and that epitaxial design can be used to optimize the gain characteristics of the devices. Temperature-dependent investigations show that lasing prevails up to 300 K, opening promising new avenues for efficient III–V semiconductor NW lasers with embedded low-dimensional gain media.

Heterointerface‐Driven Band Alignment Engineering and its Impact on Macro‐Performance in Semiconductor Multilayer Nanostructures

“…III–V compound semiconductor family has been recognized as the next‐generation mainstream in the post‐Si era owing to their intrinsic advantages of direct bandgap and high electron mobility . With excellence in emitting and detecting light, they have broad application in laser diodes, infrared detectors, and light‐emitting diodes . For semiconductor devices, the interplay between microstructure, energy band and macro‐performance enables design flexibility.…”

Dilute Nitride Nanowire Lasers Based on a GaAs/GaNAs Core/Shell Structure

“…On the other hand, the shell region can also contribute to the optical gain by incorporating radial multiple quantum wells (QWs) [7,18,19]. In this case, higher-order cavity modes with a ring-like light distribution become dominant in the optical output.…”

Strong Amplified Spontaneous Emission from High Quality GaAs1–xSbx Single Quantum Well Nanowires

“…25 Radial QWs in nanowires confine electrons and holes in the radial direction and strongly increase the electron-hole wave function overlap. This architecture would be highly suitable for photonic and optoelectronic applications, such as light emitting diodes, 6, 26, 27 lasers, 24,28 and ultra-fast photodetectors. 29 Thus, the growth of III-V QW nanowires has been extensively studied in the InGaAs/GaAs, GaAs/Al1-yGayAs, InGaAs/InP, InAs/InP, InAsP/InP, InGaN/GaN material systems.…”

“…34,35 As a consequence, lasing has only been demonstrated to date in InGaN/GaN and GaAs/Al1-yGayAs QW nanowires. 24,28,36 The radial GaAs/Al1-yGayAs QW nanowire systems has been successfully developed thanks to the advantage of lattice matching between GaAs and Al1-yGayA layers, 31 and applied for near infrared LEDs, 6 ultrafast photodetectors 29 and laser diodes. 28,36 However, the emitted photons from the GaAs QW have a higher energy than that of the GaAs core, leading to a high threshold modal gain required for lasing due to intrinsic absorption in the cavity.…”