Title :
Design of distributed Bragg reflector structures for transverse-mode discrimination in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
Author :
Achtenhagen, Martin ; Hardy, Amos A. ; Kapon, Eli
Author_Institution :
Lab. of Phys. of Nanostructures, Swiss Fed. Inst. of Technol., Lausanne, Switzerland
Abstract :
An angular spectrum of plane-wave representation is employed to calculate the discrimination between the fundamental and higher order transverse modes in step-index-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The effect of material composition and number of layer pairs in the distributed Bragg reflectors, as well as mode size and structure, are examined with the goal of optimizing the mode discrimination for better mode stability and higher single-mode power. In particular, it is shown that decreasing the width of the distributed Bragg reflector stopband, by means of controlling the material composition, improves significantly the mode discrimination.
Keywords :
distributed Bragg reflectors; laser mirrors; laser modes; optical design techniques; optical multilayers; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; angular spectrum of plane-wave representation; distributed Bragg reflector stopband width; distributed Bragg reflector structural design; layer pairs; material composition; mode size; mode stability; mode structure; single-mode power; transverse-mode discrimination; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Laser feedback; Laser modes; Mathematical model; Mirrors; Optical design; Optical refraction; Reflectivity; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; DBR; Distributed Bragg reflector; VCSEL; lateral mode; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser;
Journal_Title :
Lightwave Technology, Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JLT.2004.832442
