4-6 /spl mu/m vertical cavity surface emitting lasers based on lead salt compounds

Summary form only. Coherent emitters for the mid infrared (MIR) range are of high interest due to various gas absorption lines in this region permitting sensitive gas spectroscopy. For these applications usually semiconductor lasers made from lead salt (IV-VI) compounds are used. Although in recent years much progress has been achieved with MIR III-V quantum cascade lasers and with type II antimony based lasers, the lead salt lasers still represent the highest cw operation temperature for electrically pumped MIR diode lasers. In the present work, PbEuTe DBR IV-VI vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) for the 4 - 6 /spl mu/m range are demonstrated. This represents the longest wavelengths for VCSELs up to now.