The growth of In1−xGaxAsyP1−ydouble heterostructure (DH) laser material by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) under near‐equilibrium growth conditions which produce small growth rates is described. Broad‐area threshold current densities for this material are as low as 670 A/cm2for 0.1‐&mgr;m active layers which is the lowest value yet reported for this material system. This value is comparable with the best reported value for LPE Ga1−xAlxAs with a similar refractive index step. For comparison, material grown at higher growth rates using the commonly employed two‐phase and supercooling techniques are found to give consistently higher threshold current densities than those grown under near‐equilibrium conditions in the same LPE system. The spontaneous luminescence observed in window lasers grown by the near‐equilibrium method appears uniform with no evidence of dark absorbing regions which could cause self‐pulsations in the laser output during initial operation.