Advanced Concepts for High-Power VCSELS and 2-Dimensional VCSEL Arrays

摘要

We have developed high power vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELS) for multimode or single mode operation. We have characterized new cavity designs for individual lasers and 2-dimensional VCSEL arrays to maximize output power. Using broad area high power VCSELS under pulsed excitation, we have demonstrated the triggering of a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) with a VCSEL. We also have developed designs for high output power in a single mode. The first approach is to engineer the oxide aperture profile to influence the optical confinement and thus modal properties. A second approach focuses on 'leaky-mode' concepts using lateral modification of the cavity resonance to provide the lateral refractive index difference. To this end, we have developed a regrowth process to fabricate single-mode VCSELS. The overall objective of this work was to develop high-power single-mode or multimode sources appropriate for many applications leveraging the many inherent advantages of VCSELS.