Characteristics of stimulated emission from optically pumped freestanding GaN grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy

In this study, we observed optically pumped stimulated emission at room temperature in quasi-bulk GaN prepared from thick-film GaN grown on a sapphire substrate by using hydride vapor-phase epitaxy and subsequent mechanical removal of the sapphire substrate. The stimulated emission from the surface and 1-mm-wide-cleaved cavity of the GaN was red-shifted compared to the spontaneous emission by increasing the optical pumping-power density, and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peak decreased. The stimulated emission was demonstrated to have a highly TE-mode polarized nature, and the super-linear dependence of the integrated emission intensity on the excitation power indicated a threshold pump-power density of Ith = 2 MW/cm2 for one set of stimulated emissions