Stimulated emission in GaN-based laser diodes far below the threshold region

We identify that the stimulated emission of GaN laser diodes (LDs) emerges far below the traditionally recognized threshold from both optical and electrical experiments. Below the threshold, the linear-polarized stimulated emission has been the dominating part of overall emission and closely related to resonant cavity. Its intensity increases super linearly with current while that of spontaneous emission increases almost linearly. Moreover, the separation of quasi-Fermi levels of electrons and holes across the active region has already exceeded the photon emission energy, namely, realized the population-inversion. (C) 2014 Optical Society of AmericaOpticsSCI(E)EI1ARTICLEhuxd@pku.edu.cn32536-25442