Achieving high-power single-mode operation in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) has received renewed interest due to performance needs driven by facial recognition and 3D imaging in mobile telephones. Two distinct mode control methods that rely on exploiting the spatial field distribution of optical transverse modes to achieve high-power single-mode operation in VCSELs will be discussed. The first method uses a surface-deposited optical coating of multilayer SiO₂/TiO₂ or single-layer silicon to achieve single-mode emission. The capability to pattern these layers in a wafer-scale process makes this method attractive for high-volume manufacturing. The second method utilizes impurity-induced layer disordering (IID) to selectively intermix the top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) in a VCSEL, thereby creating a mirror whose reflectivity spatially varies across the aperture. Using these techniques, single-mode output power in excess of 10 mW has been demonstrated with side-mode suppression ratios in excess of 35 db.

ECS Transactions Article Link

The impact of diffusion profile shaping through the use of tensilely and compressively strained diffusion masks on the modulation response of single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) using disorder-defined apertures is investigated. VCSELs designed for high-power single-fundamental-mode emission through the use apertures defined via impurity-induced disordering (IID) in conjunction with a standard oxide-confinement process are characterized to extract high-frequency optical cavity parameters across oxide aperture and diffusion mask strain variations. The 3-dB small-signal bandwidth is maintained for a 7.68 mW single-mode 850 nm VCSEL with an oxide aperture of 13 μm using a tensilely strained diffusion mask relative to a non-disordered multimode device of the same oxide aperture. A large K-factor reduction is also observed, from 0.248 ns to 0.045 ns, indicating that damping and photon lifetimes within the cavity of VCSELs employing disorder-defined apertures are substantially reduced. Performance implications to data communication applications are discussed.

IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Article Link

The strain of diffusion masks utilized for impurity-induced disordering is demonstrated to control the curvature of the diffusion front, and therefore disordering front, of the disordered distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) aperture. As a result, the disordered apertures formed under strain conditions varying from compressive to tensile are shown to significantly impact the electro-optical performance and spectral characteristics of impurity-induced disordered (IID) VCSELs designed for single-fundamental-mode operation. An investigation and analysis of the electro-optical performance and spectral characteristics of IID-VCSELs as a result of varying diffusion mask strain is presented.

CS Mantech Article Link