Characteristics of Optically Pumped Platelet Lasers of ZnO, CdS, CdSe, and CdS0.6Se0.4 Between 300° and 80°K

摘要

The behavior of platelet lasers of ZnO, CdS, CdSe, and CdSe0.4S0.6 pumped by a pulsed Xenon laser at 3646 Å is described. Single‐mode operation of CdSe and ZnO over the full temperature range 80° to 300°K is observed. Absolute threshold‐temperature curves and absolute input‐output efficiency curves are presented and found to differ significantly from results of electron‐beam pumped platelets. These results are predicted by an analysis of the cavity configuration including the effects of spatial inhomogeneity of the gain. The importance of this inhomogeneity for interpretation of experimental gain‐loss mechanism in II‐VI lasers is emphasized, and the implications of the spectral and threshold data for current theoreies of the gain process are discussed. Neither the exciton‐LO phonon nor the non‐LO phonon theories, in their present form, appear able to explain all the data.