Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser active regions for enhanced performance with optical pumping

Author

Geske, Jon ; Gan, Kian-Giap ; Okuno, Yae L. ; Piprek, Joachim ; Bowers, John E.

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Volume

40

Issue

9

fYear

2004

Firstpage

1155

Lastpage

1162

Abstract

We have developed an improved active region design for optically pumped vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The design makes use of carrier-blocking layers to segment the absorber and promote uniform carrier populations in the quantum wells with pump efficiencies near 75%. A model to calculate the carrier distribution in the active region and a design methodology are presented along with a metric to describe the carrier uniformity in the quantum wells. Experimental verification of the performance improvements shows an over 50% reduction in device thresholds and an increase of 20°C in maximum operating temperatures.

Keywords

carrier density; laser cavity resonators; optical design techniques; optical pumping; quantum well lasers; surface emitting lasers; wafer bonding; active region design; carrier blocking layers; carrier distribution; carrier uniformity; optical pumping; quantum wells; semiconductor lasers; uniform carrier populations; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; wafer bonding; Design methodology; Laser excitation; Laser modes; Optical design; Optical pumping; Pump lasers; Quantum well lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Temperature; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Optical pumping; semiconductor lasers; surface-emitting lasers; wafer bonding;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2004.833234

Filename

1327764