Analysis of lateral-mode confinement in VCSELs with ring metal apertures

Author

Smolyakov, Gennady A. ; Osinski, Marek

Author_Institution

Center for High Technol. Mater., Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Volume

23

Issue

12

fYear

2005

Firstpage

4278

Lastpage

4286

Abstract

The role of metal apertures in the mechanism of lateral-mode confinement in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) is clarified by means of a detailed effective-frequency-method (EFM) analysis of an oxide-confined VCSEL structure with the oxide window larger than the p-contact metal aperture. We show that a ring metal contact on top of the VCSEL structure can change the conditions for lateral waveguiding by significantly modifying the local resonant properties of the VCSEL cavity. Resonant effects are demonstrated in the longitudinal coupled-cavity system consisting of the designed laser cavity, determined by two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and a spacer, and a very short cavity formed by the top DBR and the semiconductor-metal interface. The conditions for suppression of higher order lateral modes using metal apertures are established.

Keywords

distributed Bragg reflector lasers; laser cavity resonators; laser modes; semiconductor lasers; semiconductor-metal boundaries; surface emitting lasers; waveguide lasers; VCSEL cavity; distributed Bragg reflectors; effective frequency method; higher order lateral modes; lateral waveguiding; lateral-mode confinement; local resonant properties; longitudinal coupled-cavity system; oxide-confined VCSEL; p-contact metal aperture; resonant effects; ring metal apertures; ring metal contact; semiconductor-metal interface; Apertures; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Laser modes; Optical coupling; Optical design; Resonance; Ring lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Effective frequency method (EFM); numerical simulation; oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs); semiconductor lasers; semiconductor-device modeling; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2005.858210

Filename

1566756