200°C, 96-nm wavelength range, continuous-wave lasing fromunbonded GaAs MOVPE-grown vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers

We report record temperature and wavelength range attained using MOVPE-grown AlGaAs vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's). Unbonded continuous-wave lasing is achieved at temperatures up to 200°C from these top-emitting VCSEL's and operation over a 96-nm wavelength regime near 850 nm is also achieved from the same nominal design. Temperature and wavelength insensitive operation is also demonstrated; threshold current is controlled to within a factor of 2 (2.5-5 mA) for a wavelength range exceeding 50 nm and to within ±30% (5-10 mA) for a temperature range of 190°C at 870 nm     

Spectrally-filtered electroluminescence of vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers

We show that spontaneous emission from the mirror layers (λ=780 nm) of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is a significant component of the spectrum. By using bandpass filters, we are able to distinguish the electroluminescence (or “near-field”) pattern of the mirror layers from the active region pattern. We show that in some lasers, these patterns are irregular, possibly due to the presence of absorbing doping or defect clusters in the p-mirror that absorb light from the active region, and re-radiate the light at the shorter wavelength characteristic of the mirror layers. In addition, we show that dark areas appear, both in the active regions and the mirrors, as the device degrades     

Optical properties of AlGaAs/GaAs nipi superlattices and theirapplication in asymmetric cavity spatial light modulators

Homo-nipi and hetero-nipi superlattices incorporated into asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavity structures are compared and evaluated for possible use as bit plane optical memory elements in terms of the magnitude of their optical nonlinearities, on-off contrast ratio, insertion loss, carrier lifetimes, and power required to change the state of the structure. Changes in superlattice absorption coefficient as high as 1500 cm^-1 and 1300 cm^-1 have been achieved in type I and type II AlGaAs/GaAs hetero-nipi structures, respectively. When normalized to the GaAs quantum well layer thicknesses, the change in absorption coefficient in the type I superlattice was as high as 12000 cm^-1. In asymmetric cavity modulator structures, on-off reflection contrast ratios as high as 60:1, carrier lifetimes as long as 4 ms, and on-state reflectivities as high as 0.62 have been observed. A 54:1 contrast ratio and an insertion loss of 8.5 dB were achieved simultaneously in a planar Fabry-Perot cavity structure excited with a pump beam power of 3.8 mW. The effective carrier lifetime in this case was 25 μs     

Planar GaAs-AlGaAs MQW transverse junction ridge waveguide lasersusing shallow zinc diffusion

A new transverse-junction ridge waveguide AlGaAs-GaAs multiple-quantum-well laser is demonstrated. The combination of the ridge structure and transverse junction yields advantages of stable index guiding, and a greatly simplified fabrication process with a rapid thermal diffusion time as short as three minutes     

Multichip free-space global optical interconnection demonstration with integrated arrays of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and photodetectors

The experimental optical interconnection module of the Free-Space Accelerator for Switching Terabit Networks (FAST-Net) project is described and characterized. Four two-dimensional (2-D) arrays of monolithically integrated vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) and photodetectors (PD's) were designed, fabricated, and incorporated into a folded optical system that links a 10 cm x 10 cm multichip smart pixel plane to itself in a global point-to-point pattern. The optical system effects a fully connected network in which each chip is connected to all others with a multichannel bidirectional data path. VCSEL's and detectors are arranged in clusters on the chips with an interelement spacing of 140 mum. Calculations based on measurements of resolution and registration tolerances showed that the square 50-mum detector in a typical interchip link captures approximately 85% of incident light from its associated VCSEL. The measured optical transmission efficiency was 38%, with the losses primarily due to reflections at the surfaces of the multielement lenses, which were not antireflection coated for the VCSEL wavelength. The overall efficiency for this demonstration is therefore 32%. With the measured optical confinement, an optical system that is optimized for transmission at the VCSEL wavelength will achieve an overall efficiency of greater than 80%. These results suggest that, as high-density VCSEL-based smart pixel technology matures, the FAST-Net optical interconnection concept will provide a low-loss, compact, global interconnection approach for high bisection-bandwidth multiprocessor applications in switching, signal processing, and image processing.     

Low-temperature (10-300 K) characterization of MOVPE-grownvertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Experimental results from the low-temperature characterization of AlGaAs-based, MOVPE-grown VCSEL's are reported. Evaluations focus on 830-nm (300 K) wavelength devices, showing continuous lasing over the entire 300-10 K measurement range with threshold currents from 3.6 mA (300 K) to 10.7 mA (10 K), and an ≈0.6 Å/°C wavelength shift. Gain-resonance alignment for 830-nm devices occurred between 200-225 K with 1.6 mA minimum threshold current at 1.6 V. 817-nm VCSEL's with 4.5 mA threshold at 300 K achieved submilliamp (0.8 mA) minimum threshold current near 125 K, representing a record low threshold current density of 250 A/cm²     

Packaged AlGaAs waveguide modulator array at 830 nm wavelength

We report a fully packaged AlGaAs waveguide modulator array with four individually addressable elements operating at approximately 830 nm wavelength and a clock speed of 1 GHz. The modulators rely largely on the linear electro-optic effect for operation, and have been packaged with an E/D MESFET driver with complementary 3.5 V outputs, and a thick-film ceramic bias network. The device is compact, using multimode interference devices for on-chip splitters and combiners and has a 4 mm electrode length. Extinction ratios in excess of 10 dB have been demonstrated over a temperature range from room temperature to 143°C. The modulator array has been packaged with a remote high power (100 mW) diode laser using stable single mode input coupling, while the modulator output is packaged with a multimode fiber array of 52.5 μm core diameter     

Performance, uniformity, and yield of 850-nm VCSELs deposited by MOVPE

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting near 850 nm and fabricated with the metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) epitaxial growth technique and a planar proton implant process have been demonstrated with excellent performance, uniformity, and yield across a 3-in wafer. Four thousand lasers were tested on a three-inch-diameter wafer, with a yield of 99.8%. This translates into a yield of 94% for fully functional 34/spl times/1 arrays. The average threshold current, threshold voltage, and dynamic resistance at 10 mA operating current were 3.07 mA, 1.59 V, and 34 ohms, respectively. Uniformity of better than /spl plusmn/9% in threshold current, /spl plusmn/1% in threshold voltage, and /spl plusmn/1.5% in maximum optical output power across a 34-element array was demonstrated.