Threshold and power of pulsed red-emitting diode lasers with a bulk active layer near p-cladding under high-temperature operation

Abstract

Threshold properties and pulsed output of AlGaInP visible-emitting lasers with an asymmetric waveguide structure and a bulk active layer are analysed. The effects of the current leakage, increased by the heating of the laser due to the proximity of the electrical pulse source and the Joule heating in and around this source are analysed. When optimising the laser design, waveguiding properties of the bulk active layer are shown to be important, leading to threshold currents decreasing, and injection efficiency increasing, with active layer thickness in lasers with moderately thick (< 0.1 µm) active layers. Catastrophic optical degradation is shown to set an upper limit to the optimal active layer thickness.