High-performance 1.3-micron InGaAsN VCSELs

Strong commercial interest in inexpensive 1.3-1.55 μm sources for short to intermediate-reach optical networks has recently yielded demonstrations of 1.3 μm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) grown on GaAs substrates employing InGaAsN quantum wells. InGaAsN appears particularly attractive for this application on the basis of fundamental material properties such as favorable band offsets, as well as the ability to grow this material both by molecular beam epitaxy and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. However, initial devices fabricated using these materials have demonstrated relatively poor performance compared to shorter-wavelength devices, both as a result of the lower quality of InGaAsN compared to GaAs or InGaAs, and the relatively simple device structures employed. In the present work, we report significantly improved properties for these devices as a result of enhancements to the InGaAsN quality and VCSEL structures