Silver-clad nitride semiconductor laser diode

An edge-emitting laser diode structure is described in which the conventional upper cladding layer is replaced with a metal contact selected for its optical as well as electrical properties. The structure is illustrated with an In0.1Ga0.9N multiple-quantum-well nitride laser diode operating at 412 nm in which the upper cladding layer is silver metal rather then the typical p-type AlGaN. Silver is effective as a cladding layer because of its very low index of refraction at the lasing wavelength, so that the guided optical mode exhibits minimal penetration into the silver; and simultaneously its high work function makes it a good electrode for contact to p-type GaN. With these properties of silver the mode loss is acceptably low, and pulsed, room-temperature lasing is demonstrated.

Citation

Bour, D. P.; Chua, C. L.; Yang, Z. H.; Teepe, M. R.; Johnson, N. M. Silver-clad nitride semiconductor laser diode. Applied Physics Letters. 2009 January 26; 94 (4): 041124.