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

Volume

22

Issue

8

fYear

2004

Firstpage

1962

Lastpage

1967

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;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2004.832442

Filename

1321195