Room-temperature polariton lasers based on GaN microcavities

The critical temperature for Bose condensation of exciton polaritons in an AlGaN microcavity containing 9 GaN quantum wells is calculated to be T=460 K. We have modeled the kinetics of polaritons in such a microcavity device using the two-dimensional Boltzmann equation. Room-temperature lasing is found with a threshold as small as 100 mW. The kinetic blocking of polariton relaxation that prevents formation of the Bose-condensed phase of polaritons at low temperatures disappears at high temperatures, especially in n-doped samples. Thus, GaN microcavities are excellent candidates for realization of room-temperature polariton lasers. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.