VCSEL transmitters for 10-Gigabit Ethernet: 1.3 μm wavelength VCSELs for metropolitan area networks and TO-packaged 850 nm wavelength VCSELs for data transmission over multimode fibers and optical backplane waveguides

One of the challenges of the upcoming 10-Gigabit Ethernet standard are 10 Gbit/s capable transmitters for 850 nm and 1.3 μm wavelength. The short-distance local area network (LAN) physical media layer requires 850 nm wavelength transmitters to be used for transmission over 100 m of 50 μm core diameter multimode fiber (MMF) or 300 m of a new high-bandwidth MMF. We demonstrate room-temperature data transmission with monolithic InGaAsN/GaAs VCSELs with a 1.8 % fraction of nitrogen in the active quantum wells, emitting maximum single-mode optical powers of 0.7 mW at 1304 nm wavelength. Even at 80°C heat-sink temperature, a maximum CW optical output power of 0.3 mW is observed, and a maximum operation temperature of +110°C is extrapolated. Bit error rates of less than 10^-12 have been achieved for transmission over a 20.5 km-long SSMF and a 500 m-long MMF at 2.5 Gbit/s as well as for back-to-back transmission at 10 Gbit/s.