Detailed study of AlAs-oxidized apertures in VCSEL cavities for optimized modal performance

Author

Demeulenaere, B. ; Bienstman, P. ; Dhoedt, B. ; Baets, R.G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Technol., Ghent Univ., Belgium

Volume

35

Issue

3

fYear

1999

fDate

3/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

358

Lastpage

367

Abstract

We present a numerical optical model for calculating threshold material gain in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. It is based on a vectorial solution of Maxwell´s equations and therefore gives exact results where other approaches fail, e.g., in the case of oxide-confined devices, which have high lateral index contrasts. Results are given concerning the influence of oxide window thickness and position on threshold gain and modal stability. We also propose an intuitive plane-wave model to enhance the physical understanding of these effects

Keywords

Maxwell equations; aluminium compounds; laser cavity resonators; laser theory; refractive index; semiconductor device models; surface emitting lasers; vectors; AlAs; AlAs-oxidized apertures; Maxwell´s equations; VCSEL cavities; high lateral index contrasts; intuitive plane-wave model; modal stability; numerical optical model; optimized modal performance; oxide window thickness; oxide-confined devices; physical understanding; threshold gain; threshold material gain; vectorial solution; Apertures; Laser modes; Laser theory; Optical diffraction; Optical pumping; Optical sensors; Optical surface waves; Semiconductor lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.748841

Filename

748841