INFLUENCE OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE ON THE MIRROR FACET TEMPERATURES OF VISIBLE GAINP QUANTUM-WELL LASERS

Reflectance modulation measurements on red-emitting GaInP quantum well ridge lasers show a sensitive dependence of the laser mirror temperat ures on the number of quantum wells, the type of cladding layers, the configuration of a heat spreader layer covering the ridge waveguide, a nd on how the laser is mounted on a heat sink. The temperature versus injection current curves also demonstrate the contribution of laser ra diation heating even in single quantum well lasers. The temperatures d ecay rapidly from the mirror into the cavity within about 6 mum (1/e-p oint) as found from spatially resolved electroluminescence spectra det ected along the laser cavity.