The light emitting properties of ZnS/ZnSe and ZnSTe/ZnSe strained II–VI superlattices are investigated. Room‐temperature stimulated emission by photopumping in the deep‐blue spectral region is observed. An upper limit of threshold carrier density required to achieve lasing is estimated to be 3×1018/cm3.The peak of stimulated emission is several tens of meV red shifted from the spontaneous emission peak, suggesting that exciton‐exciton scattering is involved in the stimulated emission process. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.