We report the growth of a four-period multiple quantum well (MQW) structure with 115-Å-thick,+1.65&percent;strained wells by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy and its application to 2 &mgr;m wavelength lasers. Transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence measurements reveal that the structural and optical properties of MQW are sensitive to the barrier strain: the values of barrier strain required for MQW with both flat barrier-well interfaces and strong photoluminescence fall within a small range from−0.17&percent;to+0.14&percent;.The double-crystal x-ray diffraction pattern of the MQW remains unchanged before and after annealing at 620 °C for 2.5 h. Buried heterostructure lasers fabricated using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy regrowth have an emission wavelength of 2.07 &mgr;m under a continuous operation current of 120 mA at 55 °C. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.