Impact of in-plane anisotropic strain on the polarization behavior of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that the presence of switching between two fundamental modes with orthogonal linear polarization in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and the current at which this phenomenon occurs depend on both the magnitude and the orientation of an externally induced in-plane anisotropic strain. We interpret this behavior by considering the anisotropy in gain and in refractive index, both induced by the in-plane strain, and by accounting for a redshift of the two gain curves as a result of current-induced heating.