Tunable VCSEL

摘要

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are now keynoptical sources in optical communications. Their main application isncurrently in local area networks using multimode optical fibers. VCSELsnare also being rapidly commercialized for single-mode fiber metropolitannarea and wide area network applications. The advantages of VCSEL includensimpler fiber coupling, easier packaging and testing, and the ability tonbe fabricated in arrays. In addition, VCSELs have an inherentnsingle-wavelength structure that is well suited for wavelengthnengineering. All these advantages promise to lead to cost-effectivenwavelength-tunable lasers, which are essential for the futurenintelligent, all-optical networks. The author reviews the advances onnwavelength-tunable VCSELs. She summarizes some of the earlynbreakthroughs in wavelength engineering of VCSELs and then concentratesnon the designs and properties of micromechanical tunable VCSEL