Large area multitransverse-mode VCSELs for modal noise reduction in multimode fibre systems

Abstract

The first operation is reported of large area multitransversemode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) to reduce the effect of modal noise in multimode fibre systems. A BER < 10−13 is measured with a 25 μm VCSEL operated at 1 Gbit/s in a multimode optical link with 10 dB of mode selective loss at 16 m. The reduction in modal noise is from a decrease in the coherence of the large VCSELs with multitransverse-mode operation.