Design and fabrication of ridge waveguide folded-cavity in-planesurface-emitting lasers

A 45° angled reactive ion etching combined with an in situ monitoring technique was used to fabricate ridge waveguide folded-cavity in-plane surface-emitting lasers. This laser structure, with two 45°C angle-etched internal total-reflection mirrors and an epitaxially grown distributed Bragg reflector, is very promising for OEIC applications. Laser-structure design and laser fabrication are addressed. A continuous-wave threshold current of 8 mA, the lowest reported in the literature, was achieved on 3-μm-wide, 350-μm long devices