DEFECT ANNEALING IN A II-VI LASER-DIODE STRUCTURE UNDER INTENSE OPTICAL-EXCITATION

Defect annealing under intense pulsed optical excitation has been obse rved in a II-VI laser diode structure at room temperature. More than o ne order of magnitude increase in photoluminescence intensity has been obtained when the annealed area is probed at low excitation intensity . High-resolution confocal photoluminescence images of the annealed re gion do not show any sign of degradation. Together, these results sugg est that an initial density of intrinsic point defects present within the active region can be removed by the optical annealing. Recombinati on-enhanced defect reactions in the vicinity of the point defects are responsible for this nonthermal annealing effect. (C) 1998 American In stitute of Physics.