Single-mode molecular beam epitaxy grown PbEuSeTe/PbTe buried- heterostructure diode lasers for CO2 high-resolution spectroscopy

Abstract

Buried-heterostructure tunable PbEuSeTe/PbTe lasers were fabricated using a two-stage molecular beam epitaxy growth procedure. Improvements in the processing technique yielded lasers that show performance characteristics significantly better than those reported previously. A continuous wave (cw) operating temperature of 203 K was realized, which is the highest cw operating temperature ever reported for lead-chalcogenides diode lasers. This laser exhibited exceptionally low-threshold currents of 1.4 mA at 90 K and 43 mA at 160 K with single-mode operation for injection currents up to 30Ith and 0.18 mW power at 100 K. The usefulness of the laser, when operating cw at 200 K, was demonstrated by the ability to perform high-resolution spectroscopy of a low-pressure CO2 gas sample.