Dynamics of carrier recombination in a semiconductor laser structure

Carrier-recombination dynamics is studied by the method of optical orientation at room temperature in the active layer of a laser diode structure. The dependence of the degree of electron-spin orientation on the excitation density is attributed to saturation of the nonradiative-recombination channel. The time of electron capture at recombination centers is determined to be τ e = 5 × 10–9 s. The temperature of nonequilibrium electrons heated by a He–Ne laser is estimated.