Coherent control of transverse-mode oscillations in VCSELs

Summary form only given. For room-temperature coherent control, semiconductor lasers are promising candidates because they offer a long optical coherence time and can provide gain for the optical signal. We present coherent control of optical modes in a VCSEL with resonant 100 fs optical pulse injection (center wavelength = 855 nm). It shows 40-210 GHz oscillations in the VCSEL after single pulse injection. Similar fast oscillations have been shown to originate from the beating between different transverse optical modes. This interpretation was confirmed by the optical spectra. Oscillations in the response indicate that the injected pulse establishes a fixed phase relationship between different transverse optical modes.