  Since the technological breakthrough prompted by the inception of light
emitting diodes based on III-nitrides, these material systems have emerged as
strategic semiconductors not only for the lighting of the future, but also for
the new generation of high-power electronic and spintronic devices. While
III-nitride optoelectronics in the visible and ultraviolet spectral range is
widely established, all-nitride and In-free efficient devices in the
near-infrared (NIR) are still wanted. Here, through a comprehensive protocol of
design, modeling, epitaxial growth and in-depth characterization, we develop
Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$N:Mn/GaN NIR distributed Bragg reflectors and we show their
efficiency in combination with GaN:(Mn,Mg) layers containing Mn-Mg$_{k}$
complexes optically active in the telecommunication range of wavelengths.
