Analysis of vertical cavity surface emitting laser diodes (VCSEL)

摘要

Laser diodes (Ebeling 1993, Coldren and Corzine 1995, Iga 1994) are well established light sources in high-speed fibre optic communications. Whereas edge emitting laser diodes are routinely used in long haul systems operating at 1.3 or 1.5#mu#m wavelengths, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) have become strong contenders for short distance transmission, in particular, in the wavelength range from 800 to 1000nm (Choquette and Hou 1997). VCSELs offr a number of advantages. Considering performance, ultra-low lasing threshold (Hayashi et al. 1995, Huffaker et al. 1996) high-speed dynamic single-mode operation (Jung et al. 1997) low divergence circular astigmatic free beams and extremely high electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency at mW output power (Weigl et al. 1996, Lear et al. 1995) are most attractive. From a systems point of view it is efficient coupling even to single-mode fibres, feedback insensitive design, superior lifetime, compatibility with electronics, and easy arrangement in densely packed two-dimensional arrays (Yoshikawa et al. 1995, Grabher et al. 1998, King et al. 1998) that give the devices an edge over conventional horizontal cavity lasers.