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Two-state lasing in microdisk laser diodes with quantum dot active region
The two-state lasing phenomenon, which manifests itself in simultaneous laser emission
through several optical transitions of quantum dots, is studied in microdisk diode lasers with
different cavity diameters. The active region represents a multiply stacked array of self-organized
InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots emitting in the wavelength range of 1.1–1.3 um. Two-state
lasing, which involves the ground-state and the first excited-state optical transitions, is observed
in microdisks with cavity diameters of 20 to 28 um, whereas two-state lasing via the first and the
second excited-state optical transitions is observed in 9 um microdisks. The threshold currents for
one-state and two-state lasing are investigated as functions of the microdisk diameter. Optical loss in
the microdisk lasers is evaluated by comparing the two-state lasing behavior of the microdisks with
that of edge-emitting stripe lasers made of the same epitaxial wafer.