High-power single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

摘要

High-power single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) have a great potential to replace the distributed feedback (DFB) and Fabry-Perot (FP) edge emitting lasers that are currently used in optical communication. VCSELs also have tremendous potential in many niche applications such as "optical read and write," laser printing, bar code scanning and sensing. Despite many of their inherent advantages over its rivals, VCSELs still suffer from some outstanding issues. Most prominent are "limited power" and "multi-mode behavior" at higher injection. This work aims at a few solutions for these fundamental issues.;Using strain-compensated GaAsSb as an active material and a standard single-aperture design, 1.3 mum VCSELs are demonstrated and characterized. These devices face basic issues such as "limited output power" and "multi-mode behavior." These VCSELs achieved room temperature CW operation with power outputs from 50--200 muW for wavelengths ranging from 1245 to 1290 nm.;To resolve the issue of limited power, several on-wafer thermal-management schemes are proposed. One of the schemes is pursued in this work. To resolve the issue of multi-mode behavior, a novel device design using asymmetric double oxide-apertures is proposed, theoretically modeled, and implemented in this work. The optical mode behavior of this novel design is compared with a traditional single-aperture design using fabricated devices and theoretical modeling. A clear trend of spectral purity in the modal behavior of the devices, under both continuous wave (CW) and pulsed conditions, is demonstrated and is in good agreement with theoretical predictions. One of the novel designs tested on an InGaAs VCSEL has shown a multi-mode power more than 23 mW with maximum wall plug efficiency of 32%, threshold current of 2.5 mA, threshold voltage of 1.2 V, and a slope efficiency of 0.83 W/A. The best design demonstrated a room temperature CW single-mode output power of more than 7 mW with a side mode suppression ratio greater than 20 dB for an active device size of more than 20 mum in diameter.;The technical approach of this novel design is simpler both from the growth and fabrication perspectives vis-a-vis other existing approaches to realize high-power single-mode VCSELs.