Enhanced electron-hole plasma stimulated emission in optically pumped gallium nitride nanopillars

Abstract

An enhanced stimulated emission was observed in optically pumped GaN nanopillars. The nanopillars were fabricated from an epitaxial wafer by patterned pillar etching followed by crystalline regrowth. Under optical excitation, a strong redshifted stimulated emission peak emerged from a broad spontaneous emission background. The emission is attributed to the electron-hole plasma gain at high carrier density. The emission slope efficiency was greatly enhanced by 20 times compared with a GaN substrate under the same pumping condition. The enhancement is attributed to the better photon and gain interaction from the multiple scattering of photons among nanopillars. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3570634]