Defect annealing under intense pulsed optical excitation was observed in a II-VI laser diode structure at room temperature. A more than one order of magnitude increase in photoluminescence intensity was obtained when the annealed area was probed using a low excitation intensity. High-resolution confocal photoluminescence images of the annealed region did not reveal any sign of degradation. The results suggested that an initial density of intrinsic point defects, which was present within the active region, could be removed by optical annealing. Recombination-enhanced defect reactions in the vicinity of the point defects were expected to be responsible for this non-thermal annealing effect.

C.Jordan, D.T.Fewer, J.F.Donegan, E.M.McCabe, A.Huynh, F.P.Logue, S.Taniguchi, T.Hino, K.Nakano, A.Ishibashi: Applied Physics Letters, 1998, 72[2], 194-6