Forbidden Auger process in strained InGaSb/AlGaSb quantum wells

Carrier loss due to Auger recombination has been known to be the major factor limiting the performance of long-wavelength semiconductor lasers. We show for the first time that the dominant Auger process in InGaSb/AlGaSb and InGaAs/InP strained quantum well structures can be suppressed because of the conversation of energy and crystal momentum with the sufficient reduction of the in-plane heavy hole masses. As a result, low-threshold currents and good temperature performance can be achieved in strained quantum well semiconductor lasers. An analytic expression for the in-plane effective hole masses in a strained quantum well is derived and used to calculate the hole masses of InGaSb/AlGaSb strained quantum wells.