Abstract-A buried crescent InGaAsP-InP laser with two active layers was fabricated to study the temperature behavior of the doublecarrier-confinement structure. An anomalously high-characteristic temperature To was measured and an optical switching behavior was observed. A model analysis and numerical calculation using a rate equation approach explained qualitatively very well the experimental results. It was revealed that not only the Auger recombination in this special double-active-layer configuration, but that the temperature dependent leakage current, which leads to uniform carrier distribution in both active regions, is essential to increase To.