Stimulated emission at 300 K from photopumped GaN grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy with an inductively coupled plasma source

GaN epilayers have been grown on basal plane (0001) sapphire by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with a novel, inductively coupled nitrogen plasma source. Films grown at 700 degrees C generate stimulated emission at 300 K when optically pumped in vertical geometry with similar to 3.5 eV (lambda 355 nm) photons. The extrapolated pump power threshold is similar to 3.6 MW cm(-2) which corresponds to an absorbed value of 700 kW cm(-2) and a peak carrier number density of similar to 4 x 1019 cm-3. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.