We have fabricated edge‐emitting GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well lasers in which the outer cladding layers have been replaced by multilayer Bragg reflectors. The reflectance peak spans the intrinsic spontaneous emission spectrum of the wells and there are no allowed vertical cavity modes within this spectrum. Compared with an equivalent alloy structure the threshold current of these lasers is reduced by 25%. This is due to a reduction in the spontaneous recombination current rather than an increase in internal efficiency. Studies of spontaneous emission normal to the sample surface show that the emission intensity is significantly reduced. We suggest that the threshold current is reduced by reduction in the spontaneous recombination rate due to a combination of inhibition of the emission and photon recycling. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.