Title :
Low-threshold 840-nm laterally oxidized vertical-cavity lasers using AlInGaAs-AlGaAs strained active layers
Author :
Ko, J. ; Hegblom, E.R. ; Akulova, Y. ; Thibeault, B.J. ; Coldren, L.A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., California Univ., Santa Barbara, CA, USA
fDate :
7/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We explore the use of a novel strained AlInGaAs-AlGaAs material system to achieve low-threshold current in oxide-apertured vertical-cavity lasers (VCLs) emitting near 850 nm. We report a low continuous-wave (CW) room-temperature threshold current of 290 μA from top-emitting, 840-nm VCLs with a 5-μm-wide thin-oxide aperture. The low-threshold current has been attributed to the use of strained active layers, which increase the gain and reduce the transparency current. We also studied the effects of post-growth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the characteristics of AlInGaAs-AlGaAs VCLs and found that RTA improves the material quality and significantly enhances VCL performance.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; laser cavity resonators; oxidation; quantum well lasers; rapid thermal annealing; 290 muA; 5 mum; 840 nm; AlInGaAs-AlGaAs; AlInGaAs-AlGaAs strained active layers; VCL performance enhancement; continuous-wave room-temperature threshold current; gain; laterally oxidized vertical-cavity lasers; low-threshold current; material quality; oxide-apertured vertical-cavity lasers; post-growth rapid thermal annealing; strained quantum wells; top-emitting VCLs; transparency current; Apertures; Capacitive sensors; Gallium arsenide; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Optical materials; Quantum well lasers; Rapid thermal annealing; Semiconductor lasers; Threshold current; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
