Microscopy of electronic states contributing to lasing in ridge quantum-wire laser structure

Distribution of electronic states inside ridge quantum-wire (QWR) laser cavity was investigated using spatially and spectrally resolved top-view photoluminescence (PL) imaging method. PL inhomogeneity in QWR has shown that the electronic states were perturbed by the fluctuation of vertical thickness in the scale of ∼nm, while the optical waveguide was not. The PL images of QWR were traced up to the lasing condition to examine the lasing origin.