| Visible and ultra-violet light sources have numerous applications in the fields of solid state lighting, optical data storage, plastic fiber communications, heads-up displays in automobiles, and in quantum cryptography and communications. Most research and development into such sources is being done using III-nitride materials where the emission can be tuned from the deep UV in AlN to the near infrared in InN. However due to material limitations including large strain, piezoelectric polarization, and the unavailability of cheap native substrates, most visible devices are restricted to emission near GaN at 365nm up to around 530nm. These dots are formed by the relaxation of strain, and it has been shown both theoretically and experimentally that the piezoelectric field and the resultant quantum confined stark effect are significantly lower than those values reported in comparable QWs. As a result, the radiative carrier lifetimes in such dots are typically around 10-100 times smaller than those in equivalent QWs. Furthermore, the quasi-three dimensional confinement of carriers in the InGaN islands that form the dots can reduce carrier migration to (and therefore recombination at) dislocations and other defects.;In the present study, molecular beam epitaxial growth and the properties of InGaN/GaN self-assembled quantum dots have been investigated in detail. The quantum dots, emitting at 630nm, have been studied optically through temperature-dependent, excitation-dependent, and time-resolved photoluminescence. A radiative lifetime of ∼2ns has been measured in these samples. Samples with varying number of dot layers were grown and characterized structurally by atomic force microscopy. The growth conditions of the dots have been optimized including the InGaN and GaN thickness and the nitrogen interruption time. The optimized dots have been incorporated into edge-emitting laser heterostructures. Other optimizations including the novel use of an all In0.18Al0.82N cladding are incorporated into the laser heterostructure to optimize the output power and reduce loss.;The first red emitting quantum dot lasers, emitting at up to 630nm have been realized in the present study. These lasers show good performance compared with other material systems, including InGaAlP/GaAs and AlGaAs based red lasers. The maximum measured output power is 30mW, making them suitable for the applications discussed above. |
