Energy storage in quantum-well lasers.

A new scheme of energy storage in single-quantum-well semiconductor lasers is analyzed. This scheme involves the storage of the majority of injected carriers in the continuum states of the surrounding bulk material, in which the carrier density is diluted and the higher-order carrier-density-dependent recombination processes are much smaller. This allows the inversion level to build up to a much higher level during the pumping stage of Q switching. The possibility of using indirect-band-gap semiconductors for carrier storage is also proposed.