Carrier recombination mechanisms in mid-infrared GaInAsSb quantum well lasers

Hydrostatic pressure and spontaneous emission techniques have been used to examine the important recombination mechanisms in type-I GaInAsSb/GaSb quantum well lasers. High pressure results indicate that Auger recombination dominates the threshold current of 2.11 μm and 2.37 μm devices and is the origin of their temperature sensitivity around room temperature. While the characteristics of the 2.37 μm devices are much improved by the suppression of the CHSH Auger process, since its spin-orbit splitting energy is greater than its band gap, other important Auger processes such as CHHL and CHCC persist. In the larger band gap 2.11 μm devices, an increase in threshold current with pressure is observed suggesting that CHSH Auger is present in these devices at atmospheric pressure and contributes to performance degradation at these shorter wavelengths.