Laser diodes (LDs) based on the III-Nitride material system, (Al,In,Ga)N, stand to satisfy a number of application needs, and their huge market segment has been further growing with the use of LDs for full color laser projection. All commercially available GaN-based devices are based on the conventional c-plane (polar) orientation of this material. However, strong polarization fields caused by strained quantum-well (QW) layers on c-plane induce the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE), which leads to reduced radiative recombination rate and are aggravated when more indium is added into the QW(s) in order to achieve longer wavelengths. A promising solution for this is the use of nonpolar and semipolar crystal growth orientations. Elimination or mitigation of polarization-related fields within the QWs grown along these novel orientations is observed and one expects increased radiative recombination rate and stabilization of the wavelength emission with respect to the injection current.

In order to have more insights on the advantages of using the novel crystal orientations of the III-Nitride material system, we compare the gain of LD structures fabricated from c-plane, nonpolar and semipolar GaN substrates. Using thesegmented contact method, single-pass gain spectra of LD epitaxial structures at wafer level are compared for the different crystal orientations as well as the single-pass absorption coefficient spectrum of the active region material and its dependence on reversed bias.

Experimental gain spectra under continuous-wave (CW) operation of actual industry LDs fabricated from c-plane and nonpolar/semipolar GaN-based materials emitting wavelengths in the visible are then presented, using the Hakki-Paoli technique at high resolution. Measurements of the transparency current density, total losses and differential modal gain curves up to threshold are analyzed and compared between nonpolar/semipolar and c-plane LDs in violet and blue spectral regions regions.

In a preliminary analysis, we investigated the gain spectrum of non-c-plane green LDs and observed a significantly lower total linewidth (homogeneous plus inhomogeneous) than reported elsewhere, which seems to indicate that inhomogeneous broadening is not the main issue governing the evolution toward high performance green LDs.