Characteristics of a gallium arsenide laser pumped by a high-energy electron beam

An investigation was made of the influence of irradiation on the threshold and power characteristics of a GaAs laser excited by a high-intensity beam of 250–800 keV electrons at room temperature. Use was made of undoped n-type crystals and of crystals doped with tellurium and zinc. It was found that the decrease in the output radiation power with increasing electron dose was due to the reduction in the nonequilibrium carrier lifetime. The number of radiation defects generated by electron bombardment and the rate of their accumulation depended on the bombardment temperature: At room temperature, many of these defects were annealed. Electron bombardment had practically no effect on the optical homogeneity of the laser or on the total nonresonance losses.