Experimental study of Auger recombination, gain, and temperature sensitivity of 1.5 μm compressively strained semiconductor lasers

The effect of strain on Auger recombination has been studied using the differential carrier lifetime technique in both lattice matched InGaAs-InP and compressively strained quaternary quantum wells. It is found that Auger recombination is reduced in strained devices. The transparency carrier density and differential gain of both lattice matched and strained devices have been obtained by gain and relative intensity noise measurement. A reduction of the transparency carrier density is observed in the strained device. However, no differential gain increase is seen. The temperature sensitivity of the threshold current density of both lattice matched and strained devices has been fully studied. Physical parameters contributing to the temperature sensitivity of the threshold current density have been separately measured, and it is shown that the change in differential gain with temperature is a dominant factor in determining the temperature sensitivity of both lattice matched and strained devices