Polarisation control in VCSELs by elliptic surface etching

Author

Unold, H.J. ; Riedl, M.C. ; Michalzik, R. ; Ebeling, K.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Optoelectronics, Ulm Univ., Germany

Volume

38

Issue

2

fYear

2002

fDate

1/17/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

77

Lastpage

78

Abstract

850 nm-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with an elliptical shallow surface relief having various aspect ratios and orientations have been fabricated. Using appropriate etch dimensions, VCSELs of up to 12.5 μm active diameter are forced to operate on the fundamental mode for a certain current range. By aligning the longer axis of the etched ellipse with the [011] or [011¯] crystal axis, the polarisation of the fundamental mode is pinned accordingly with a polarisation suppression ratio of ~30 dB

Keywords

etching; laser modes; light polarisation; optical fabrication; quantum well lasers; surface emitting lasers; 12.5 micron; 850 nm; Al_0.1Ga_0.9As; GaAs-Al_0.98Ga_0.02As; VCSEL; [011¯] crystal axis; [011] crystal axis; aspect ratios; current range; elliptic surface etching; elliptical shallow surface relief; etch dimensions; etched ellipse; fundamental mode; longer axis alignment; orientations; polarisation control; polarisation suppression ratio; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electronics Letters

Publisher

iet

ISSN

0013-5194

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/el:20020040

Filename

981578