The use of laser-stripped and metallized fibers for hermetic packaging applications

摘要

In recent times a new class of semiconductor photonic device has gained popularity. These devices use lateral selective oxidation [1] to create highly efficient, low-threshold-current edge-emitting lasers where both the optical waveguide and lateral current confinement are achieved by lateral selective oxidation of AlGaAs. Using these concepts, external differential quantum efficiency in excess of 95% and 40% wall-plug efficiency have been demonstrated. We have also recently explored use of selective-oxidation waveguides for low-drive-voltage highspeed optical phase modulators and electroabsorption modulators suitable for > 40 Gb/s optical modulation. This high-performance is a result of placement of the oxide layers so as to achieve the minimum optical mode size. The small mode size increases the confinement factor of the laser and reduces the required applied electric field excursions of modulators. Unfortunately, the performance benefits of a small optical mode are offset by poor coupling of light into and out of the device due to the large mismatch in size between the optical mode of the device and single-mode optical fiber. Adiabatic mode transformation waveguides are used to expand or contract the optical mode of a device as needed for coupling to fiber. However, none of the existing designs can be used with selectively oxidized waveguide structures.