Enhanced single-fundamental LP01 mode operation of 650-nm GaAs-based GaInP/AlGaInP quantum-well VCSELs

Minimal optical attenuation of plastic (polymer) optical fibres (POFs) corresponds to the 650-nm wavelength. Currently the GaInP/AlGaInP quantum-well (QW) oxide-confined (OC) vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs) are undoubtedly the laser devices most suited to be used in 650-nm POF optical communication, for which the stable single-fundamental-mode LP₀₁ emission (SFM) is definitely the one most desired. In the present paper, the comprehensive fully self-consistent VCSEL model is used to examine mode selectivity of the above VCSELs. An increase in the VCSEL active-region diameter leads to a gradual modification of the current injection into this region and subsequent carrier radial diffusion within it before their recombination, which is followed by an essential transformation of active-region optical-gain profiles deciding upon an excitation of successive transverse modes. In standard arsenide OC VCSELs, SFM operation is usually limited to relatively small active regions. But for a room-temperature continuous-wave operation of the GaInP/AlGaInP VCSELs, the fundamental LP₀₁ mode remains surprisingly the lowest-threshold one up to relatively large active regions of 9-μm diameters. Nevertheless, in such VCSELs, thresholds of many LP modes become very similar to one another, which leads to their relatively poor mode selectivity and an unwanted multi-mode operation for higher output powers.     

Current spreading modification to enhance single-fundamental-mode VCSEL operation at higher temperatures

Continuous-wave (CW) performance of modern oxide-confined (OC) vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs) at room and elevated temperatures is investigated with the aid of the comprehensive fully self-consistent optical-electrical-thermal-gain model. A standard OC GaInNAs/GaAs double-quantum-well VCSEL emitting the 1.3-μm radiation is used as a typical modern VCSEL structure. The oxide aperture is placed at the anti-node position of an optical standing wave within a VCSEL cavity. The desired single-fundamental-mode (SFM) operation has been found to be expected only in VCSELs equipped with relatively small active regions of diameters equal or smaller than 10 μm. Therefore a proton implantation used as an radial additional confinement of the current spreading from the upper annular contact towards the centrally located active region is proposed and its impact on the VCSEL performance is investigated. The above structure modification has been found to enable a radical improvement in the VCSEL performance. In particular, in this case, the SFM VCSEL operation is possible even in VCSELs with quite large active regions and for much wider ambient-temperature range than in the standard OC VCSELs.     

键合界面阻抗对VCSEL的电、热学特性的影响

采用一电阻层来表征键合界面处的阻抗.通过求泊松方程、电流密度方程、载流子扩散方程以及有源层结压降方程自洽解的方法，计算了VCSEL的电势分布，进而求解热传导方程，得到VCSEL的温度分布.详细分析了键合界面阻抗对晶片键合结构垂直腔面发射激光器内部的电势分布、温度分布以及有源层中的注入电流密度、载流子浓度、结压降和温度沿径向分布的影响.     

Cascade nitride VCSEL designs with tunnel junctions

The performance of various possible designs of 400-nm nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) has been analyzed with the aid of an advanced three-dimensional (3D) thermal-electrical-optical-gain self-consistent threshold simulation. It has been demonstrated that it is practically impossible to reach fundamental-mode operation in nitride VCSELs of the traditional design with two ring contacts. To enhance this desired operation, the uniformity of current injection into VCSEL active regions should be dramatically improved. Therefore, we have focused our research on designs with tunnel junctions and/or a semitransparent contact. In particular, it has been proved that a design with two cascading active regions, two tunnel junctions and a semitransparent contact may offer the most promising room-temperature performance characteristics for both pulse and continuous-wave operations. In particular, this design offers high mode selectivity with a distinct fundamental transverse mode domination. The simulations also reveal that the thickness and localization of the semitransparent contact, as well as the localization of active regions and tunnel junctions, are crucial for successful construction design. PACS 42.55.Px; 85.30.De; 85.60.Jb     

Transverse-mode selectivity in possible nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Excitation of various transverse modes in possible nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) is investigated and compared using the effective frequency optical model. In the comparative analysis of laser mode selectivity, two distinctly different configurations of possible nitride VCSELs are considered: the traditional VCSEL design with both (n-side and p-side) ring contacts as well as the uniform-current-injection (UCI) VCSEL design. Our simulation reveals that, during the continuous-wave device operation at room temperature, a multi-mode operation dominated by higher-order transverse modes is typical for traditional nitride VCSEL configurations whereas a desirable single-mode (based on the fundamental LP₀₁ mode) operation turns out to be characteristic for the wide current range in UCI ones. The above different threshold device behaviours are an immediate consequence of essentially different current-spreading phenomena in both VCSEL designs, resulting in completely different not only gain profiles but also temperature distributions within the laser active regions of both VCSELs. Seemingly similar behaviour has been also reported in arsenide VCSELs but it is expected to be much more severe in the case of nitride ones as a result of much higher both electrical resistivities of p-type nitrides and their temperature derivatives of refractive indices.     

Research of the use of silver nanowires as a current spreading layer on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Silver nanowire(AgNW) film was proposed to apply on the surface of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers(VCSELs) with large aperture in order to obtain a uniform current distribution in the active region and a better optical beam quality.Optimization of the AgNW film was carried out with the sheet resistance of 28.4 Ω/sq and the optical transmission of 94.8% at 850 nm.The performance of VCSELs with and without AgNW film was studied.When the AgNW film was applied to the surface of VCSELs,due to its better current spreading effect,the maximum output optical power increased from 23.4 mW to 24.4 mW,the lasing wavelength redshift decreased from 0.085 nm/mA to 0.077 nm/mA,the differential resistance decreased from 23.95 Ω to 21.13 Ω,and the far field pattern at 50 mA decreased from 21.6° to 19.2°.At the same time,the near field test results showed that the light in the aperture was more uniform,and the far field exhibited a better single peak characteristic.Various results showed that VCSELs with AgNW on the surface showed better beam quality.     

VCSEL structures used to suppress higher-order transverse modes

Currently unwanted excitation of higher-order transverse modes is the most serious drawback of vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs) limiting their possible applications. In the present paper, various methods used to suppress those modes are described and their effectiveness is compared. It is well known that, because of a nearly uniform current injection into their active regions, small-aperture VCSELs without any modification offer quite high single-fundamental-mode (SFM) output. However, their series resistance is often too high, which aggravates their high-modulation performance. Similarly uniform current injection may be also achieved with the aid of a tunnelling junction. Generally, methods suppressing higher-order modes take advantage of higher optical gain within the central part of the active region, higher radiation losses outside this region and/or higher central mirror reflectivity. Currently, applications of a tunnel junction, an impurity-induced disordering or an inverted shallow surface relief seem to be the simplest and the most effective methods. The deep etched holey structure or the ARROW structure enable obtaining similar single-mode output powers but they may be used in special cases only because of their complex technology. Photonic crystals may probably enable more advanced mechanisms of suppressing higher-order modes in future because currently their application seems to be still far from being optimised.     

Comparative analysis of lasing performance of oxide-confined and proton-implanted vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers

The comprehensive optical-electrical-thermal-recombination self-consistent VCSEL model is used to compare the performance of oxide-confined (OC) and proton-implanted (PI) VCSELs and to optimise their structures. Generally index-guided (IG) OC VCSELs demonstrate lower lasing thresholds whereas both gain-guided (GG) OC and PI ones manifest much better mode selectivity. Therefore, their either low-threshold IG or mode-selective GG versions may be intentionally used for different VCSEL applications. Lasing thresholds of OC IG VCSELs have been found to be very sensitive to the exact localisation of their thin oxide apertures, which should be shifted as close as possible towards the anti-node position. PI VCSELs, on the other hand, are simpler and cheaper in their manufacturing than OC ones. Although lower threshold currents are manifested by PI VCSELs with very thick implanted regions, lower threshold powers are achieved in these devices with much thicker upper unaffected layer used for the radial current flow from the ring contact towards the laser axis. Paradoxically poor thermal properties of PI VCSELs enable lower lasing thresholds of slightly detuned devices. To conclude, cheaper and mode-selective PI VCSELs may be used instead of OC ones in many of their applications provided ambient temperatures and laser outputs are not too high.     

Thermal properties and wavelength analysis of telecom oriented photonic-crystal VCSELs

Results of the self-consistent comprehensive analysis of a room-temperature operation of InP-based 1300-nm AlInGaAs photonic-crystal (PhC) VCSELs are presented. In particular, an influence of PhC parameters on thermal effects within VCSEL volume and its emission wavelength are analysed. The PhC has been found to introduce a number of opposite effects including a possible light leakage through PhC holes. From one side, PhC holes make more difficult heat-flux extraction from VCSEL volume leading to higher temperature increases within it. But, from the other side, a properly manufactured PhC creates an efficient radial confinement mechanism for VCSEL radiation field. It enhances an interaction between the field and the active-region carriers leading to a decrease in both the VCSEL lasing threshold and temperature increases. Seemingly both effects may similarly affect VCSEL operation, but our analysis revealed, that thermal properties of the PhC VCSEL are mainly dependent on an efficient confinement of its radiation field within the active region impeding a mode leakage through PhC holes, whereas an importance of deterioration of heat-flux extraction from VCSEL volume is much less essential. The wavelength shift induced by a change of PhC parameters has been found not to exceed 4×10⁻³ μm.     

Nitride VCSEL design for continuous-wave operation of higher-order optical modes

Anticipated performance of possible designs of nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) has been analyzed and compared with the aid of an advanced 3D optical–thermal–electrical self-consistent simulation. It has been revealed in the simulation that, to achieve room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) VCSEL threshold operation, uniformity of both carrier-concentration and temperature-increase distributions within VCSEL active regions are equally important. Besides, mostly because of problems with an effective confinement of an optical field in a radial direction, RT CW lasing in standard nitride VCSELs is usually easier to achieve on higher-order transverse modes than on lower-order ones. Therefore, a novel design of nitride VCSELs with double (annular and central dot) p-side contacts has been intentionally constructed to enhance an excitation of low-threshold high-order transverse optical modes. Anticipated RT CW performance characteristics of the novel design have been proved to be definitely more promising than those of other possible configurations of nitride VCSELs. In particular, our calculations have confirmed that RT CW lasing is possible in this new nitride VCSEL. Besides, this device has been found to be less sensitive (than other nitride VCSELs) to possible crystal imperfections created around an active region while high-resistive areas are formed. PACS 42.55.Px; 85.30.De; 85.60.Jb     

Sensitivity of a VCSEL threshold performance to inaccuracies in its manufacturing

The paper describes an impact of various possible inaccuracies in manufacturing of verticalcavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs), like thicknesses and compositions of their layers different from assumed ones, on VCSEL room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) threshold performance. To this end, the fully self-consistent comprehensive optical-electrical-thermal-recombination VCSEL model has been applied. While the analysis has been carried out for the 1.3-μm oxide-confined intra-cavity contacted GaInNAs/GaAs VCSEL, its conclusions are believed to be more general and concern most of modern VCSEL designs. As expected, the VCSEL active region has been found to require the most scrupulous care in its fabrication, any uncontrolled variation in compositions and/or thicknesses of its layers is followed by unaccepted RT CW lasing threshold increase. Also spacer thicknesses should be manufactured with care to ensure a proper overlapping of the optical standing wave and both the gain and lossy areas within the cavity. On the contrary, less than 5% thickness changes in distributed-Bragg-reflectors are followed by nearly insignificant changes in VCSEL RT CW threshold. However, exceeding the above limit causes a rapid increase in lasing thresholds. As expected, in all the above cases, VCSELs equipped with larger active regions have been confirmed to require more careful technology. The above results should enable easier organization of VCSEL manufacturing.     

Thermal aspects of designing CW-operated nitride VCSELs

A room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) operation of possible nitride vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) is considered in the present paper using a simple VCSEL simulation to give some essential guidelines for their proper designing. It is revealed that a substrate material has a critical influence on a possibility of reaching RT CW thresholds which practically excludes currently used sapphire substrates of relatively low thermal conductivity from this application. SQW nitride VCSELs are found to be very sensitive to an increase in temperature, which is followed by their inappropriate CW-operation characteristics. A moderate increase in a number of quantum wells in VCSEL active regions significantly improves their CW achievements, i.e. decreases RT CW thresholds as well as considerably widens their CW threshold ranges.     

Comprehensive self-consistent three-dimensional simulation of an operation of the GaAs-based oxide-confined 1.3-μm quantum-dot (InGa)As/GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

In the paper, a comprehensive fully self-consistent three-dimensional simulation of an operation of the GaAs-based oxide-confined long-wavelength 1.3-m quantum-dot (QD)(InGa)As/GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers is demonstrated. The model has been intentionally prepared for the PC-class microcomputers to enable its easy application in designing optimal structures of the above devices with desired performance characteristics. An impact of some structure parameters on QD VCSEL room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) lasing thresholds is discussed. A stable RT CW operation on a single fundamental mode has been found to be possible in modern QD VCSELs with active regions containing more uniform and more dense QDs in stacks of QD layers. The desired single fundamental-transverse-mode operation is possible for smaller active regions of diameters not exceeding 8 m. In the case of larger active regions, on the other hand, higher-order transverse modes of an increasing order are excited first because of increasingly more non-uniform optical-gain distributions.     

光反馈诱发长波长垂直腔面发射激光器低功耗偏振开关

基于扩展的自旋反转模型,对光反馈诱发下长波长垂直腔面发射激光器中的低功耗偏振开关进行了理论研究.研究表明:长波长垂直腔面发射激光器在自由运行下未能获得的偏振开关现象,可以通过引入中等强度的偏振旋转光反馈来实现.对比强弱两种不同的线性色散效应,发现了一些有趣的现象:弱线性色散条件下更易于在低注入电流下获得偏振开关,并且产生偏振开关所需的反馈强度具有更大的调控范围;强色散效应中未能始终获得偏振开关,会出现两模共存区,并且偏振开关出现的注入电流值较高.同时,观察到的偏振模跳变和多偏振开关现象类似于短波长垂直腔面发射激光器,因而证实这两类激光器在偏振开关的本质规律上是相似的.此外,还对长波长垂直腔面发射激光器不易在低注入电流下获得偏振开关的原因进行了分析,并给出了合理的解释.     

Photonic Crystal VCSELs

Photonic crystal vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (PC VCSELs) are reviewed. The PC VCSEL shows single-transverse-mode continuous wave operation in the entire current range with side mode suppression ratio 35-40dB. A simple 3-D plane wave expansion method is found to be very effective in analyzing the modal properties of the PC VCSELs.     

On the thermal resistance of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Thermal properties of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are studied using their comprehensive, three-dimensional, self-consistent, thermal-electrical simulation. The thermal resistance versus operation current relation is found to be completely different for two basic VCSEL configurations, i.e. for proton-implanted top-surface-emitting lasers (top-emitting VCSELs) and etched-well lasers (bottom-emitting VCSELs). The above fact is explained using a concept of the average centre of heat generation within a laser volume and its shift with an increase in an operation current. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synchronization properties and effects of parameter mismatches in unidirectionally coupled chaotic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We numerically investigate the effects of parameter mismatches on chaos synchronization in vertical-cavity surfaceemitting lasers (VCSELs). We assume injection-locked chaos synchronization in a unidirectionally coupled and openloop optical feedback system. The accuracy of chaos synchronization is greatly affected by the mismatches of the device parameters and operation conditions between the two lasers. In particular, the oscillation frequency of the laser is one of the important parameters in a system of injection-locked chaos synchronization. However, the variations of the device characteristics of VCSELs are very large compared with those of other types of semiconductor lasers. We study the effects of parameter mismatches related to the oscillation frequency of VCSELs on chaos synchronization. We proved that mismatches in terms of the birefringence and the injection current play crucial roles for the quality of chaos synchronization.     

Multiwavelength GaN-Based Surface-Emitting Lasers and Their Design Principles

Dual-wavelength lasing operations are demonstrated in GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) comprising ingeniously designed asymmetric InGaN quantum wells (AS-QWs). The dual laser modes show exact positive-correlated polarization dependences with a high degree of polarization of up to 98%. By simply tuning the pump energy, the components and intensity of the laser outputs can be continuously changed, making wavelength selection and switching available for the GaN-based VCSELs. Detailed theoretical analysis and experimental measurements show that the intensity of optical gain and the coupling between the active layer and optical field, namely the electron–photon interaction, as well as carrier tunneling and photon reabsorption play a crucial role in the multiwavelength lasing processes. Moreover, the design principles of the proposed AS-QWs and multistacked size-varied quantum dot (MS-QD) active regions are elaborated to provide guidelines for controllable multiwavelength emissions in GaN-based surface-emitting lasers. These results not only provide better understanding of lasing in nitride-based microcavity systems but also shed insight into the more fundamental issues of electron–photon coupling in such systems. Importantly, such controllable multiwavelength laser operations may extend nitride-based VCSELs to previously inaccessible areas, for example, flip-flop, ultrafast switches, and other functional devices such as Raman lasers and sensors.     

Analysis of anticipated performance of 650-nm GaInP/AlGaInP quantum-well GaAs-based VCSELs at elevated temperatures

The possibility of application of the 650-nm oxide-confined GaInP/AlGaInP quantum-well vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs) at elevated temperatures as sources of the carrier 650-nm wave in the fibre optical communication using POFs has been investigated with the aid of the comprehensive self-consistent model. An increase in the VCSEL threshold current at higher temperatures has been found to be mostly associated with both the carrier leakage from the valley of the Ga_0.43In_0.57P quantum-well material to the X-valley of the (Al_0.67Ga_0.33)_0.52In_0.48P barriers and the band-to-band absorption within the Ga_0.52In_0.48P layer of the band-gap comparable with the energy of emitted radiation. Nevertheless, the AlGaInP VCSELs exhibit encouraging thermal behaviour with the characteristic temperature T₀ equal to as much as 134 K for the active-region temperatures up to 357 K. For the 5-μm devices, the maximal achievable output has been determined to decrease from a quite high value of 1.0 mW for 293 K to 0.6 mW for 320 K and to still high 0.33 mW for 340 K. However, an efficient operation of the above VCSEL at elevated temperatures requires still some structure modifications leading to a reduction of both the above effects, the electron leakage from the valley and the band-to-band absorption within GaInP layers.     

Designing strategy to enhance mode selectivity of higher-output oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Performance of modern oxide-confined (OC) vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSEL s) is more sensitive to the construction details than in the case of other VCSEL s. In particular, a stable single-fundamental-mode operation is difficult to be achieved in these VCSEL s especially in higher-output large-size continuous-wave (cw) operating devices at higher temperatures. In the present paper, an operation of OC VCSEL s has been investigated with the aid of the comprehensive fully self-consistent model using the (GaIn)(NAs)/GaAs quantum-well VCSEL with two oxide apertures as a typical example. A new approach is proposed to enhance cw RT single-fundamental-mode low-threshold operation in higher-output OC VCSEL s. One of their oxide apertures should be shifted to the node position of the resonator standing wave where it is working as the electrical aperture only. Then diameters of both apertures may be changed independently giving an additional degree of freedom for VCSEL designing, which enables their optimisation. While the larger-diameter optical aperture placed in the anti-node position creates an efficient radial waveguiding effect, the smaller-diameter electrical aperture enhances a more uniform current injection into the VCSEL active region. Due to combining influence of both the apertures, the single-fundamental-mode operation is predicted in a large device with the 10-m-diameter active region even for 80 K active-region temperature increase over RT of the ambient. An impact of intentional detuning at room-temperature (RT) of VCSEL active-region gain spectrum towards shorter wavelengths with respect to the resonator mode improves mode selectivity is also analysed. PACS  42.55.Px; 02.60.Cb; 85.60.Bt