Temperature dependence of intrinsic recombination coefficients in 1.3 μm InAsP/InP quantum-well semiconductor lasers

In this letter, we report on the temperature dependence of the intrinsic recombination coefficients in long-wavelength quantum-well lasers. Unlike previous studies, we obtain the intrinsic recombination coefficients from carrier lifetime measurements with a correction for the carrier population in the barrier and separate confinement heterostructure region. Our results show that this carrier population not only affects the value of the recombination coefficients obtained but also their temperature dependence. We measure a significant increase in the intrinsic Auger coefficient with temperature indicating that the frequently reported temperature insensitivity of this coefficient is likely due to carriers spilling out of the wells at elevated temperatures and not an intrinsic property of the Auger process. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)03519-1].