Above room-temperature GaInAs/Al(Ga)AsSb quantum cascade lasers

High-temperature (up to at least 400 K) pulsed-mode operation of quantum cascade (QC) lasers based on GaInAs/Al(Ga)AsSb grown lattice-matched on InP substrates are presented in this article. The emission wavelength of the QC lasers is in the range from 4 µm to 5 µm at room temperature. For a typical device with the size of 18 µm x 2.8 mm, based on a 25-stage GaInAs/AlAsSb active region, mounted substrate-side down with as-cleaved facets, a maximum peak power per facet of 750 mW has been achieved at room temperature. The maximum pulsed operation temperature for the GaInAs/AlGaAsSb-based QC lasers is estimated to be 450 K. For a typical device with the size of 14 µm x 1.5 mm mounted substrate-side down with as-cleaved facets, a maximum peak power per facet of 190 mW has been achieved at 400 K for the GaInAs/AlGaAsSb based QC lasers.