We review epitaxial formation, basic properties, and device applications of a novel type of nanostructures of mixed (0D/2D) dimensionality that we refer to as quantum well-dots (QWDs). QWDs are formed by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial deposition of 4–16 monolayers of In_xGa_1−xAs of moderate indium composition (0.3 < x < 0.5) on GaAs substrates and represent dense arrays of carrier localizing indium-rich regions inside In-depleted residual quantum wells. QWDs are intermediate in properties between 2D quantum wells and 0D quantum dots and show some advantages of both of those. In particular, they offer high optical gain/absorption coefficients as well as reduced carrier diffusion in the plane of the active region. Edge-emitting QWD lasers demonstrate low internal loss of 0.7 cm⁻¹ and high internal quantum efficiency of 87%. as well as a reasonably high level of continuous wave (CW) power at room temperature. Due to the high optical gain and suppressed non-radiative recombination at processed sidewalls, QWDs are especially advantageous for microlasers. Thirty-one μm in diameter microdisk lasers show a high record for this type of devices output power of 18 mW. The CW lasing is observed up to 110 °C. A maximum 3-dB modulation bandwidth of 6.7 GHz is measured in the 23 μm in diameter microdisks operating uncooled without a heatsink. The open eye diagram is observed up to 12.5 Gbit/s, and error-free 10 Gbit/s data transmission at 30 °C without using an external optical amplifier, and temperature stabilization is demonstrated.

An InAs/InGaAs quantum dot laser with a heterostructure epitaxially grown on a silicon substrate was used to fabricate injection microdisk lasers of different diameters (15–31 µm). A post-growth process includes photolithography and deep dry etching. No surface protection/passivation is applied. The microlasers are capable of operating heatsink-free in a continuous-wave regime at room and elevated temperatures. A record-low threshold current density of 0.36 kA/cm² was achieved in 31 µm diameter microdisks operating uncooled. In microlasers with a diameter of 15 µm, the minimum threshold current density was found to be 0.68 kA/cm². Thermal resistance of microdisk lasers monolithically grown on silicon agrees well with that of microdisks on GaAs substrates. The ageing test performed for microdisk lasers on silicon during 1000 h at a constant current revealed that the output power dropped by only ~9%. A preliminary estimate of the lifetime for quantum-dot (QD) microlasers on silicon (defined by a double drop of the power) is 83,000 h. Quantum dot microdisk lasers made of a heterostructure grown on GaAs were transferred onto a silicon wafer using indium bonding. Microlasers have a joint electrical contact over a residual n+ GaAs substrate, whereas their individual addressing is achieved by placing them down on a p-contact to separate contact pads. These microdisks hybridly integrated to silicon laser at room temperature in a continuous-wave mode. No effect of non-native substrate on device characteristics was found.

Semiconductor lasers have developed rapidly with the steady growth of the global laser market. The use of semiconductor laser diodes is currently considered to be the most advanced option for achieving the optimal combination of efficiency, energy consumption, and cost parameters of high-power solid-state and fiber lasers. In this work, an approach for optical mode engineering in planar waveguides is investigated. The approach referred to as Coupled Large Optical Cavity (CLOC) is based on the resonant optical coupling between waveguides and allows the selection of high-order modes. The state-of-art of the CLOC operation is reviewed and discussed. We apply the CLOC concept in our waveguide design strategy. The results in both numerical simulation and experiment show that the CLOC approach can be considered a simple and cost-efficient solution for improving diode laser performance.

Modal absorptions in laser-like heterostructures containing InAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) and InGaAs quantum well-dots (QWDs) have been studied. The evaluation of photoresponse as a function of waveguide length has allowed us to determine per-layer modal absorptions of 69 and 13 cm-1 for the ground state optical transitions of QWDs and QDs, respectively. The values of the modal absorption can be used as a measure of the maximal (saturated) modal gain. To compare quantum heterostructures with different dimensionality we have introduced the layer gain constant, a parameter characterizing the light transmittance through the absorbing or gaining layer. We have shown that the QWD layer gain constant significantly exceeds quantum well and quantum dot ones.

An improved technique for thermal resistance measurement of edge-emitting diode lasers using spontaneous emission spectra, collected through the opening in the n-contact within the range of operating currents, has been proposed. The advantage of the proposed technique is that systematic errors typical for measurements based on lasing spectra are excluded. The accuracy of the method was verified by measuring the dependence of the thermal resistance on the cavity length for diode lasers with 100 μm strip width. Obtained results are in good agreement with the model, and the minimum measurement error was ±0.1 K/W. The proposed technique can be used in metrological support of fabrication process of semiconductor lasers. Keywords: laser diode, thermal resistance, spontaneous emission.

We study the applicability of InGaAs/GaAs quantum well-dots (QWDs) for active regions of broadband superluminescent diodes (SLDs) emitting in the 950–1150 nm spectral range; 2 mm long SLDs with a bent section and an active region based on seven chirped QWD layers show emission spectra centered at 1030 nm with a full-width at half-maximum of 80 nm and an output power of 2 mW. In a 250 µm long SLD with a tilted stripe that has an increased output loss, the width of the emission spectra is 113 nm at 20 °C and 120 nm at 60 °C.