Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with spatially adjustable DBR reflectivity to enable free-space photonic repeaters

Author

Bond, A.E. ; Dapkus, P.D.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng.-Electrophys., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

10

Issue

5

fYear

1998

fDate

5/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

636

Lastpage

638

Abstract

We have created bidirectional high-performance top- and bottom-emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) from a single epitaxial wafer. Using a spatially selective oxidation of AlAs layers in hybrid distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) of a VCSEL structure, devices processed for top emission had threshold currents of 100-110 μA with slope efficiencies of 18%-20%. Devices from the same wafer processed for bottom substrate emission had thresholds of 110-120 μA and slope efficiencies of 17% and 18%. This technology will greatly simplify the use of VCSEL´s in large three-dimensional (3-D) parallel interconnects, photonic repeaters, and smart pixels.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; distributed Bragg reflector lasers; gallium arsenide; laser cavity resonators; optical interconnections; optical repeaters; semiconductor lasers; smart pixels; surface emitting lasers; 100 to 110 muA; 110 to 120 muA; 18 to 20 percent; 3D parallel interconnects; AlAs; AlAs layers; AlGaAs-GaAs; DBR lasers; bidirectional high-performance top-emitting VCSELs; bottom substrate emission; bottom-emitting VCSELs; free-space photonic repeaters; hybrid distributed Bragg reflectors; optical interconnections; photonic repeaters; single epitaxial wafer; slope efficiencies; smart pixels; spatially adjustable DBR reflectivity; spatially selective oxidation; threshold currents; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Laser modes; Mirrors; Oxidation; Reflectivity; Repeaters; Semiconductor lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Threshold current; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.669218

Filename

669218