Linewidth and Chirp of MEMS-VCSELs

Author

Halbritter, H. ; Sydlo, C. ; Kögel, B. ; Riemenschneider, F. ; Hartnagel, H.L. ; Meissner, P.

Author_Institution

Inst. fur Hochfrequenztechnik, Darmstadt Univ. of Technol.

Volume

18

Issue

20

fYear

2006

Firstpage

2180

Lastpage

2182

Abstract

This letter analyzes the influence of micromachined Bragg mirrors within active Fabry-Perot cavities on basic laser characteristics, like linewidth and chirp. The impact of thermal noise of the micromechanic structure is discussed and its influence on the linewidth of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is verified in an experiment. For the first time, we demonstrate for a MEMS-VCSEL a record low average linewidth of 210 MHz and extract an intrinsic linewidth of below 30 MHz. The second issue deals with the influence of microforces like radiation pressure, radiometric pressure, and length extension of the Bragg-mirror structure due to absorption on the chirp behavior of a MEMS-laser. For the first time, these effects and their influence on the VCSEL dynamics are modelled and discussed in detail. Further, the measured chirp characteristics are analyzed and compared with our modelling to quantify the influence of above effects on the device characteristics

Keywords

chirp modulation; laser cavity resonators; laser mirrors; micromechanical devices; micromirrors; radiation pressure; radiometry; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; thermal noise; Bragg mirrors; Fabry-Perot cavity; MEMS-VCSEL; chirp; laser tuning; linewidth; microelectromechanical system; micromachining; radiation pressure; radiometric pressure; thermal noise; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; Biomembranes; Chirp; Fluctuations; Laser modes; Laser noise; Laser tuning; Microelectromechanical systems; Mirrors; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Chirp; linewidth; microelectromechanical system (MEMS); micromechanics; radiation pressure; radiometric pressure; thermal noise; tunable laser; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2006.884239

Filename

1705524