Enhancing the efficiency of GaN-based laser diodes by the designing of a p-AlGaN cladding layer and an upper waveguide layer

Abstract

To obtain high performance of GaN-based laser diodes (LDs), three series of LDs are proposed, the effects of Al content of p-AlGaN cladding layer, as well as the material composition and thickness of upper waveguide layer (UWG) are investigated separately. As the Al content increases, the threshold current and output power are found to improve significantly. Meanwhile, the optical field distributed on the p-type side is reduced. Besides, the photoelectric characteristics of LDs are further improved when In 0.03 Ga 0.97 N/In 0.01 Ga 0.99 N UWG is used. Moreover, proper choice of the In 0.03 Ga 0.97 N/In 0.01 Ga 0.99 N UWG thickness is necessary to achieve the high performance of GaN-based LDs.