Wavelength shifting in GaAs quantum well lasers by proton irradiation

Proton irradiation followed by rapid thermal annealing was used to selectively induce layer intermixing and thus shift the emission wavelengths of GaAs–AlGaAs graded-index separate-confinement-heterostructure quantum well lasers. Up to 40 nm shifts were observed in 4 μm ridge waveguide devices irradiated to a dose of 1.5×1016 cm−2. Although the wavelength shifts were accompanied by some degradation in the lasing threshold current and differential quantum efficiency, they were still quite acceptable at moderate wavelength shifts. This technique provides a simple and promising postgrowth process of integrating lasers of different wavelengths for wavelength-division-multiplexing applications.