Measurement automation for characterising vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

A novel computer-controlled system for characterisation of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) is presented. The automation process enables intensive analysis of VCSEL transverse modes in addition to determination of conventional laser characteristics and figures of merit. Analysis of measurements provides insight into the design issues affecting optimal coupling to fibres and interbeam crosstalk in free space interconnects. To illustrate the process we provide samples of program code and experiment results.