EXTREMELY THICK ZNCDSE ZNSSE MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL HETEROSTRUCTURES FOR OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS/

We report design, MBE growth and optical studies of optically dense, s trained ZnSSe/ZnCdSe multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and superlattices ( SLs). To avoid stress relaxation in the thick multilayer structures, p articular attention is paid to the accurate design of alternating comp ressive and tensile stress in the constituent layers. The feasibility of using the alternatively strained SLs and MQWs as the guide and acti ve regions of optically pumped MgZnSSe/ZnCdSe blue-green lasers is exp erimentally confirmed. A room-temperature threshold power density as l ow as 20 kW/cm(2) has been achieved at 490 nm in conventional waveguid e-geometry lasers with a SL guide layer. A room-temperature optically pumped vertical-cavity laser utilizing a long ZnSSe/ZnCdSe MQW active region and a short external cavity is demonstrated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.