Due to the keen interest in improving the high-speed and high-temperature performance of 1.3-μm wavelength lasers, we compare, for the first time, the material gain of three different competing active layer materials, namely InGaAsP-InGaAsP, AlGaInAs-AlGaInAs, and InGaAsN-GaAs. We present a theoretical study of the gain of each quantum-well material system and present the factors that influence the material gain performance of each system. We find that AIGaInAs and InGaAsN active layer materials have substantially better material gain performance than the commonly used InGaAsP, both at room temperature and at high temperature
