Electrically pumped random lasers with p-diamond as a hole source

Electrically pumped lasing has been one of the most challenging issues for random lasers. Since holes are rare in most semiconductors, hole injection is necessary for electrically pumped lasers. Here in this article, by employing p-type diamond synthesized via a temperature gradient method under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions as a hole source, electrically pumped random lasing has been observed from p-Mg0.35Zn0.65O/n-ZnO core-shell nanowire structures. The mechanism for the lasing can be attributed to the recombination of the electrons in the nanowires with the holes injected from the p-type diamond. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America