Electronic band structures and optical gain spectra of strained wurtzite GaN-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N quantum-well lasers

The electronic band structures, density-of-states, and optical gain spectra for wurtzite GaN-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N quantum wells are studied theoretically based on the Hamiltonian derived using the k.p method. We investigate the dependence of the optical gain and transparent current density on the well width, barrier height, and strain using a numerical approach with high accuracy. The mole fraction of Al in the barrier material is progressively increased to study the effects of quantum confinement and compressive strain. A higher Al mole fraction in the barrier leads to improvement of the TE optical gain and suppression of the TM optical gain. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a reduction of the well width offers improved modal gain over all radiative current densities. We also predict a transparent current density of 250 A/cm/sup 2/ for the GaN-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N single quantum-well (QW) structure. Our results suggest that a suitable combination of thin well width and large barrier height should be selected in improving the TE optical gain in wurtzite GaN-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/N single QW.