Role of Coulomb-correlated electron-hole pairs in ZnSe-based quantum-well diode lasers

Gain and absorption spectra in ZnSe-based blue-green diode lasers have been measured to show the role of pairwise Coulomb correlation between electrons and holes in ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$ ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se/${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$ ${\mathrm{S}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se quantum wells (QW’s) under lasing conditions at room temperature. In addition, the radiative decay rates of electron-hole pairs have been obtained from time-resolved photoluminescence measurements over a wide temperature range. These experiments also point out the importance of the Coulomb interactions on the QW optical properties near its fundamental absorption edge under device operating conditions.