InGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

The authors give theoretical and experimental results for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The modeling is applied to the design of InGaAs VCSELs. A simple method to calculate the reflectivity of semiconductor stack mirrors with graded interfaces and compound metal/semiconductor stack mirrors is introduced. The theoretical predictions are compared to results from actual device measurements. A novel technique is introduced to determine material parameters: fabrication of in-plane lasers from VCSEL material. The procedure used to determine the optical mode in such an in-plane laser is described. Using the insight gained from modeling, the external efficiency was increased to >30% with a threshold current density of 1 kA/cm/sup 2/.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>