Determination of the band structure of disordered AlGaInP and its influence on visible-laser characteristics

Using hydrostatic pressure techniques, we have obtained new energies for the X-minima, L-minima and band offsets in GaInP-AlGaInP. Theoretical calculations of the threshold current density in bulk and strained quantum-well visible lasers are shown to be in good agreement with experimental results, obtained as a function of both temperature and hydrostatic pressure. Our results show that heterobarrier leakage current is a dominant limiting factor in the performance at shorter wavelength (/spl sim/635 nm) operation, but is of less significance for longer wavelength (/spl sim/675 nm) operation.>