Submilliampere-threshold InGaAs-GaAs quantum-well ridge-waveguide lasers with lateral confinement provided by impurity-induced disordering

Significant reduction of threshold currents in InGaAs-GaAs quantum-well ridge-waveguide lasers has been achieved by using silicon-induced disordering to provide lateral confinement. Room-temperature threshold currents as low as 0.7 mA for pulsed operation and 0.9 mA for cw operation have been obtained from an uncoated 137-μm-long and 0.3-μm-wide device. In addition, the effects of high-temperature annealing on the various device characteristics, such as the gain curve, internal loss, and quantum efficiency, have been investigated.