III-Nitride Based Compact 320-355 nm UV Lasers

Existing ultraviolet laser diodes with wavelengths much shorter than 355 nm suffer from poor performance. This is partially due to limited research in this area, but a large part is also due to material and processing issues unique to deep UV lasers. New approaches to achieving III-Nitride UV lasers at wavelengths shorter than 355nm are needed to meet the Navys ambitious goals of having 1 W of CW output power; traditional approaches to III-Nitrides are unlikely to be able to achieve the desired laser performance. Instead it is necessary to develop revolutionarily novel approaches to the growth and fabrication of Al(In)GaN based UV lasers. This proposed effort will involve studying the growth, processing, testing, and demonstration of high power UV multi-quantum wells and lasers. It will cumulate in the initial demonstration of UV lasers and a feasibility study for pushing this technology toward even higher powers. This work will lay out the ground work for a Phase II effort in which we will continue to implement novel approached to demonstrating high-power UV lasers.