Lithographically-defined gain apertures within selectively oxidized VCSELs

Summary form only given.Selectively oxidized vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) have demonstrated record performance such as low threshold current/voltage, high efficiency, and high-speed modulation characteristics. Because of the strong index confinement created by buried oxide layers used to define the laser cavity, oxidized VCSELs typically operate in multiple transverse optical modes, whereas single-mode operation is required for many VCSEL applications. One approach to discriminate against higher-order optical modes is to define a small gain region within a larger diameter cavity. We report on high-performance gain-apertured selectively oxidized VCSELs, which exhibit high single-mode operation as high as 3 m with side mode suppression ratios>30 dB.