A mid-infrared emitting indirect bandgap quantum well semiconductor laser with an optical waveguide structure having an active waveguide core. The active waveguide core comprises at least one repetition of a sub-region comprising in the following order a first wide bandgap layer, a first conduction band layer of InAs, a valence band layer of Ga.sub.(1-x)In.sub.xSb where x.gtoreq.0.7, preferably of InSB (ie. x=1), having a thickness of less than 15 Angstroms, a second conduction band layer of InAs and a second wide bandgap barrier layer. The barrier layers co-operate to provide electrical confinement for the carriers within the intervening conduction band and valence band layers and optical confinement in the active core region is provided by the optical waveguide structure.