Experimental study of Auger recombination, gain, and temperature sensitivity of 1. 5 [mu]m compressively strained semiconductor lasers

The strain effect on Auger recombination is 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. The authors observe a reduction of the transparency carrier density in strained device. However, no differential gain increase is seen. The temperature sensitivity of 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 are separately measured, and show that the change in differential gain with temperature is a dominant factor in determining the temperature sensitivity of both lattice matched and strained devices.