Lead-salt-based VCSELs for the 3- to 6-μm range

Operation of IV-VI vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers emitting in the mid-infrared is reported. The microcavity laser structures were grown by molecular-beam-epitaxy on BaF2(111) substrates. The stimulated emission is generated in PbTe quantum wells embedded in high finesse Pb0.95Eu0.05Te/EuTe microcavity structures by optically pumping with fs and ns laser pulses. Laser samples were designed for operation at 2 K, at 70 K and at room temperature with emission at 6 mm, 4.8 mm and around 3 mm, respectively. At a wavelength of 3.1 mm, laser operation is obtained up to a temperature of 65°C, limited by nonradiative recombination processes. The temperature dependence of the emission is explained in terms of the strong temperature dependence of the energy band gap of the lead salt compounds as compared to the microcavity resonance energy in agreement with envelope function calculations of the quantum well energy levels.

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