Intraband carrier relaxation in mid-infrared (3–4 μm) HgCdTe based structures: Effect of the carrier heating on the operating temperatures of bulk and quantum-well lasers

In this work, we study stimulated emission (SE) at 3–4 μm wavelengths from optically pumped bulk HgCdTe and HgTe/CdHgTe quantum-well heterostructures. It is proposed that, under intense excitation of such structures, energy relaxation of hot electrons occurs mostly via electron–hole scattering, while the relaxation of hot holes is direct, phonon-mediated. By balancing carrier generation/recombination and heating/cooling processes, we outline heat-induced limits to the operating temperatures of mid-IR HgCdTe lasers. Based on the existing experimental results for the SE around 3.5 μm, we predict that lasing at this wavelength may be achieved in 2.5 μm-pumped optical converters at temperatures as high as Tmax ∼ 270 K.