Design of double and triple quantum wells for InGaAs-AlAsSb intersubband unipolar semiconductor lasers

InGaAs-AlAsSb double and triple quantum well (QW) structures were designed in an effort to shorten the wavelength to less than 2 /spl mu/m for possible application to intersubband unipolar lasers. Wavelengths corresponding to the intersubband separation, the minimum and maximum operating electric field, optical-phonon-limited nonradiative scattering time, and escape time from the QW were simulated. It was found that suitable nonradiative transition times can be obtained by properly designing the coupling layer thickness for both kinds of QW's. The minimum wavelength is 1.5 /spl mu/m and an operating electric field is above 130 kV/cm for wavelengths <2 /spl mu/m in the double QW. On the other hand, the minimum operating electric field is less than 10 kV/cm and the minimum wavelength is about 1.7 /spl mu/m for the triple QW. The triple QW is suitable for an electric-field induced wavelength tunable laser.