Towards green lasing: Ingredients for a green laser diode based on GaInN

Laser structures based on GaInN quantum wells were investigated using the variable stripe length technique. Two major problems in designing a green emitting laser diode were identified. The first one is the decrease of the optical confinement for increasing wavelength. To avoid this limitation and to simultaneously maintain good optical confinement we grew samples with lattice-matched AlInN lower cladding layers. The second major issue is to push the emission of the structures to longer wavelength by increasing the indium concentration in the quantum well. We demonstrate optical gain up to a wavelength of 480 nm.