Current spreading effects in 680-nm-band self-sustained pulsating AlGalnP visible laser diodes

We have developed 680-nm-band AlGalnP visible laser diodes having very lowintensity noise with stable self-sustained pulsation. The pulsation characteristics were affected by current spreading outside the ridge stripe. We obtained AlGalnP visible laser diodes with stable self-sustained pulsation by optimizing the ridge structure. The lasers achieved relative intensity noise (RIN) as low as-136 dB Hz^–1 in the temperature range 20–50°C at 3 mW.     

Diagnostic and characterization of the VCSEL diodes based on GaSb

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) diodes are among the youngest members of the semiconductor laser diode family. The main aim of our work focuses on the measurement of the basic properties (the spectral range of the laser emission, temperature and current tunability) of experimental VCSEL diode lasers based on GaSb operating in the infrared region around 4250 cm^?1. A high-resolution FTIR Bruker IFS 120 HR spectrometer with a maximum resolution of 0.0035 cm^?1 was used in the emission setup for the laser diagnostic research. The absorption spectra of atmospheric pollutants like methane, carbon monoxide and ammonia have been measured using these VCSELs for the first time.     

Long-wavelength GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb DFB lasers emitting near 2.6 μm

We have successfully fabricated and characterized room temperature continuous wave (cw) GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb distributed feedback lasers emitting in the wavelength region between 2.499 and 2.573 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest emission wavelength realized with a GaSb-based DFB laser diode. The laser structure used for DFB processing was grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. A DFB concept requiring no subsequent overgrowth step was used by defining first-order Cr-Bragg gratings laterally patterned to a ridge waveguide. Threshold currents smaller than 60 mA and room temperature cw output powers up to 6.5 mW were obtained. The laser diodes show single mode emission with side mode suppression ratios (SMSR) of up to 32 dB.     

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.     

A bidirectional hybrid DWDM-PON employing optical injection locking technique and data comparators

A bidirectional hybrid dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM)-passive optical network (PON) employing optical injection locking technique on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and data comparator, as well as optical injection locking technique on distributed feedback laser diodes (DFB LDs) and amplitude/phase compensator is proposed and demonstrated. Improved performances of bit error rate (BER) and carrier-to-noise ratio/composite second order/composite triple beat (CNR/CSO/CTB) were observed in our proposed bidirectional hybrid DWDM-PON. Bidirectional transmission in bidirectional hybrid DWDM-PON architecture is a very attractive option, the capacity of the optical network can be expanded relatively easily by bidirectional transmission technology.     

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.     

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.     

Line shapes of near-infrared DFB and VCSEL diode lasers under the influence of system back reflections

Laser diode line widths and line shapes are experimentally investigated in dependence on the diode current and on back reflections from an optical system. Four distributed-feedback (DFB)-type diode lasers and two vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have been tested within the same optical setup and using the same fitting methods. System back reflection ratios of light reflected back to the laser have been varied between ?1?dB and ?45?dB and were below ?60?dB when all reflections were blocked. The background of this investigation is the evaluation of different laser types with respect to their suitability for sensor applications in which optical back reflections may occur, for example tunable diode-laser spectroscopy (TDLS). While DFB-type lasers showed almost pure Lorentzian line shapes and line widths of a few MHz, the tested VCSELs had a strong Gaussian contribution to the line shape, indicating stronger 1/f noise, which was also observed in the relative intensity noise of these particular lasers. System reflection ratios above ?25?dB had strong effects on the line width in both DFB diode lasers and VCSELs, while some influences have been observed at even lower reflection ratios for DFB diode lasers. As much smaller reflection ratios are typically required in TDLS systems to avoid etalon-like fringes and self-mixing interference effects, we conclude that the influence on the line width is not the most important reason to minimize back reflections in practical TDLS systems or to choose one type of diode laser over the other.     

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.     

Infrared diode laser spectroscopy

Three types of lasers (double-heterostructure 66 K InAsSb/InAsSbP laser diode, room temperature, multi quantum wells with distributed feedback (MQW with DFB) (GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb based) diode laser and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) (GaSb based) have been characterized using Fourier transform emission spectroscopy and compared. The photoacoustic technique was employed to determine the detection limit of formaldehyde (less than 1 ppmV) for the strongest absorption line of the v₃ + v₅ band in the emission region of the GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb diode laser. The detection limit (less than 10 ppbV) of formaldehyde was achieved in the 2820 cm⁻¹ spectral range in case of InAsSb/InAsSbP laser (fundamental bands of v₁, v₅). Laser sensitive detection (laser absorption together with high resolution Fourier transform infrared technique including direct laser linewidth measurement, infrared photoacoustic detection of neutral molecules (methane, form-aldehyde) is discussed.     

Chaos synchronization and communication of the polarization modes for two unidirectionally coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We theoretically investigate the synchronization performance of the polarization modes of two unidirectionally coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), where the master VCSEL subjects to polarization-preserved optical feedback and the slave VCSEL subjects to polarization-preserved optical injection. We demonstrate that high synchronization can be achieved between corresponding polarization components of the master laser and the slave laser. We also analyze the influence of the internal mismatched parameters on the synchronization performance. Furthermore, this system is used to dual-channel communication and the different transmitted digital information is respectively recovered at each polarization branch of the slaver laser successfully with the encryption scheme of chaos masking (CM). The results open an opportunity for multichannel chaotic communication by utilizing different polarization components in single-mode or multi-transverse-mode VCSELs.     

Analytical modelling of end thermal coupling in a solid-state laser longitudinally bonded by a vertical-cavity top-emitting laser diode

The intrinsic features involving a circularly symmetric beam profile with low divergence, planar geometry as well as the increasingly enhanced power of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have made the VCSEL a promising pump source in direct end bonding to a solid-state laser medium to form the minimized, on-wafer integrated laser system. This scheme will generate a surface contact pump configuration and thus additional end thermal coupling to the laser medium through the joint interface of both materials, apart from pump beam heating. This paper analytically models temperature distributions in both VCSEL and the laser medium from the end thermal coupling regarding surface contact pump configuration using a top-emitting VCSEL as the pump source for the first time. The analytical solutions are derived by introducing relative temperature and mean temperature expressions. The results show that the end contact heating by the VCSEL could lead to considerable temperature variations associated with thermal phase shift and thermal lensing in the laser medium. However, if the central temperature of the interface is increased by less than 20~K, the end contact heating does not have a significant thermal influence on the laser medium. In this case, the thermal effect should be dominated by pump beam heating. This work provides useful analytical results for further analysis of hybrid thermal effects on those lasers pumped by a direct VCSEL bond.     

1.55-μm InGaAs/InGaAlAs MQW vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with InGaAlAs/InP distributed Bragg reflectors

High-performance InGaAs/InGaAlAs multiple-quantum-well vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with InGaAlAs/InP distributed Bragg reflectors are proposed for operation at the wavelength of 1.55 μm. The lasers have good heat diffusion characteristic, large index contrast in DBRs, and weak temperature sensitivity. They could be fabricated either by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) or by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth. The laser light-current characteristics indicate that a suitable reflectivity of the DBR on the light output side in a laser makes its output power increase greatly and its lasing threshold current reduce significantly, and that a small VCSEL could output the power around its maximum for the output mirror at the reflectivity varying in a broader range than a large VCSEL does.     

Wavelength stabilization and spectrum narrowing of high-power multimode laser diodes and arrays by use of volume Bragg gratings

Spectral line narrowing (by a factor of 8) and stabilization of the emission wavelength (by a factor of 30) of multimode high-power laser diodes and arrays is demonstrated by use of volume Bragg gratings fabricated in high-stability inorganic photorefractive glasses. Applications include stabilization of pump laser diodes and arrays for solid-state lasers and metal-vapor lasers, spin hyperpolarization of noble gases used in medical imaging, and others.     

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.     

Self-sustained ultrafast pulsation in coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We demonstrate that high-frequency, narrow-band, self-pulsating intensity oscillation can be generated with two coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and that such oscillation is greatly enhanced by collecting one of the two field lobes. The coupled VCSELs provide an ideal source for high-repetition-rate (over 40 GHz), sinusoidallike modulated laser light with Gaussian-like near- and far-field profiles. We also show that the modulation frequency can be tuned by inter-VCSEL separation or by a dc bias level.     

New self-align method for fabrication of 980 nm ridge waveguide laser diodes

A novel self-align method has been developed for the fabrication of 980 nm ridge waveguide laser diodes. It utilizes the facts that (1) the thickness of photoresist on the ridge top is substantially less than that in its vicinity and (2) their respective exposure times differ accordingly. Except for replacing the second photolithographic step with a simple flood-exposure, the fabrication procedure is identical to that for conventional ridge waveguide laser diodes. No additional materials or processing steps are required. As a result, the laser fabrication is significantly simplified with excellent reproducibility.     

新型垂直腔面发射半导体激光器阵列

设计出四次质子注入工艺制备垂直腔面发射激光器(VCSEL)阵列的方法,实现了对阵列中单元器件间的隔离以及对单元器件注入电流限制的分别作用。一方面通过对VCSEL外延片上分布布拉格反射镜(DBR)两次较浅的质子注入形成高电阻区域实现对阵列中单元器件间的隔离,另一方面通过再次的两次较深度的可以达到有源区上表面的质子注入形成高电阻区域实现对单元器件注入电流的限制。由瞬态热传导方程对阵列中单元器件间的热相互作用进行了理论分析。采用四次质子注入工艺实现了2×2、3×3简单的二维GaAs/AlGaAs量子阱VCSEL阵列,并对器件的激射近场、光谱特性及功率等进行了测量。     

Absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers

Recent progress in the study of both absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers is reported. Inhomogeneously excited semiconductor lasers as an absorptive case, and laser diode optical amplifiers and optical injection locking systems of laser diodes as dispersive cases, are described. Applications of bistable semiconductor lasers, such as optical memories, optical regenerative amplifiers and all-optical switching, are also discussed.