Temperature dependency of incoherent and coherent radiation in GaAs diodes

The temperature behavior of GaAs luminescent diodes varies widely. We show that the degradation of the incoherent radiation with increasing temperature is not constant, the slope is a function of temperature, and this functional dependence is not the same for all classes of diodes. For one extreme class of diodes the ratio of power output at 77°K to 300°K is in the ratio of 5:1 while for the other extreme class the ratio is 100:1. In most cases the rate of degradation in the neighborhood of 77°K is considerably greater than at elevated temperatures. The slope of the power versus temperature curve at 77°K may be greater by one order of magnitude than that at 300° K. For the temperature range greater than 150° K, the slope is more or less constant for all diodes. The rate of degradation at 77°K is independent of the value of efficiency at 77°K.