Band-structure and gain-cavity tuning of 2.4-µm GaSb buried tunnel junction VCSELs

Low-cost, continuous-wave GaSb-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) operating at ~ 2.4 mum up to 50degC have been demonstrated recently. In this work we have used high pressure techniques to investigate ways to improve their performance and extend their working temperature range. Since the band-gap and energy of the gain peak (E_p) increase with pressure at 0.126 meV/MPa at constant temperature, when applied to edge emitting lasers (EEL) we can use pressure to determine the radiative and non-radiative recombination processes occurring. In the VCSEL the pressure dependence of the threshold current, is much more complicated. At the higher temperature the decreasing Auger recombination initially dominates. Therefore we predict that either increasing the band gap or increasing the operating wavelength will allow an improved temperature performance of these GaSb-based VCSELs.