Stimulated emission from optically pumped cubic GaN on GaAs (100) substrate

Group III-nitrides are attractive for use in light emitting devices. It is well known that zinc-blende type III-nitrides can be grown on substrates that have a cubic lattice. However, it has been difficult to grow high-quality crystals. Recently we reported that the molar ratio of precursors played an important role in determining the quality of cubic GaN and that the optical properties of cubic III-nitrides could be considerably improved. On the other hand, there have been no reports of stimulated emission from cubic III-nitride alloys. In the case of hexagonal III-nitride alloys, measurements of optically pumped stimulated emission have been used to determine if the crystal quality is sufficient for a laser diode. We report here the observation of stimulated emission from optically excited cubic GaN.