Radiative and Auger recombination in 1.3μm InGaAsP and 1.5μm InGaAs quantum-well lasers measured under high pressure at low and room temperatures

We report on the pressure dependence of the threshold current in 1.3μm InGaAsP and 1.5μm InGaAs quantum-well lasers measured at low temperatures ∼100K. It was found that the threshold current of both devices slowly increases with increasing pressure (i.e., increasing band gap) at ∼100K consistent with the calculated variation of the radiative current. In contrast, at room temperature we observed a reduction of the threshold current with increasing pressure. Our low-temperature, high-pressure data confirm the results of previous atmospheric pressure measurements on the same devices which indicated a transition in the dominant recombination mechanism from radiative to Auger as the device temperature is increased from ∼100 to 300K.