SEMICONDUCTOR QUANTUM DOTS FOR APPLICATION IN DIODE-LASERS

Recent progress in the epitaxy (molecular beam epitaxy and metal-organ ic chemical vapor deposition) of strained heterostructures and the use of the Stranski-Krastanow growth mode allows to create spontaneously ordered, defect-free and dense arrays of nano-size islands. Such islan ds act as electronic quantum dots. In superlattices the islands are or dered in vertical stacks. Using such self-ordered InGaAs/AlGaAs quantu m dots we have fabricated diode lasers for which some properties are s uperior to those of current lasers based on quantum wells. In particul ar, we have demonstrated low laser threshold current and high temperat ure stability of the threshold. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.