Low threshold current density 1.3-μm strained-layer quantum-welllasers using n-type modulation doping

We have developed 1.3 μm n-type modulation-doped strained-layer quantum-well lasers. Modulation-doped lasers with long cavities (low threshold gain) exhibit much lower threshold current densities than conventional lasers with undoped barrier layers. The lowest threshold current density we obtained was 250 A/cm² for 1500 μm long lasers with five quantum wells. The estimated threshold current density for an infinite cavity length was 38 A/m²/well. This is the lowest value for InGaAsP-InGaAsP and InGaAs-InGaAsP quantum well lasers to our knowledge     

Extremely low threshold current operation in 1.5-μm MQW-DFBlaser diodes with semi-insulating InP current blocking region

Threshold current operation of 1.5 mA was achieved for 1.5-μm multiple-quantum-well distributed feedback (MQW-DFB) laser diodes (LDs) with semi-insulating current blocking layers entirely grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Such low-threshold current is attained by reducing leakage current and mirror loss in the laser structure. The required bias current for achieving several gigahertz bandwidth is markedly reduced due to the enhanced differential gain and low threshold current. Due to the reduced lasing delay time in such low threshold LDs, up to 5-GHz zero-bias current modulation, with a clear eye opening, is successfully demonstrated     

1.3 /spl mu/m InAs/GaAs multilayer quantum-dot laser with extremely low room-temperature threshold current density

A high growth temperature step used for the GaAs spacer layer is shown to significantly improve the performance of 1.3 /spl mu/m multilayer InAs/GaAs quantum-dot lasers. Extremely low room-temperature continuous-wave threshold current densities of 32.5 and 17 A/cm/sup 2/ are achieved for a three-layer device with as-cleaved facets and high-reflectivity coated facets, respectively.     

Low threshold current 1.5-μm buried heterostructure lasers usingstrained quaternary quantum wells

Buried heterostructure lasers operating at a wavelength of 1.5 μm with four compressively strained quaternary quantum wells (strain ~1.8%, thickness ~90 Å) and current blocking layers were made using atmospheric pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Pulsed room-temperature threshold currents for uncoated devices as low as 4.1 mA and as low as 0.8 mA for devices with high reflectivity mirror coatings are reported. The dependence of threshold current on active region width is consistent with broad-area laser measurements     

Very low threshold current density room temperature continuous-wavelasing from a single-layer InAs quantum-dot laser

Continuous-wave (CW) lasing operation with a very low threshold current density (J_th=32.5 A/cm²) has been achieved at room temperature by a ridge waveguide quantum-dot (QD) laser containing a single InAs QD layer embedded within a strained InGaAs quantum well (dot-in-well, or DWELL structure). Lasing proceeds via the QD ground state with an emission wavelength of 1.25 μm when the cavity length is longer than 4.2 mm. For a 5-mm long QD laser, CW lasing has been achieved at temperatures as high as 40°C, with a characteristic temperature T₀ of 41 K near room temperature. Lasers with a 20 μm stripe width have a differential slope efficiency of 32% and peak output power of >10 mW per facet (uncoated)     

High-coupling-efficient 1.3-μm laser diodes with goodtemperature characteristics

We have proposed uniformly beam-expanded structures based on the advanced concept for realizing high coupling efficiency and good temperature characteristics. Beam expansion (optical confinement reduction) by narrowing the core layer width as well as a carrier confinement are strongly enhanced by adopting a larger bandgap InGaAsP for MQW barriers and separate confinement heterostructure layers. These laser diodes (LD's) were fabricated by the conventional buried heterostructure laser process, which is very important in reducing the cost. Our results have proven the effectiveness of our proposition. The LD's with high coupling efficiency (-3.2 dB) and good temperature characteristics have been achieved even using the simple approach of reducing optical confinement. The threshold currents at 25 and 85°C are 9.3 and 39.4 mA, respectively. The slope efficiency at 25°C is 0.39 W/A and still high (0.26 W/A) even at 85°C     

Slab-coupled 1.3-μm semiconductor laser with single-spatiallarge-diameter mode

A high brightness semiconductor diode laser structure, which utilizes a slab-coupled optical waveguide region to achieve several potentially important advances in performance, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated using a simple rib waveguide in an InGaAsP-InP quantum-well structure operating at 1.3-μm wavelength. These lasers operate in a large low-aspect-ratio lowest-order spatial mode, which can be butt coupled to a single-mode fiber with high coupling efficiency     

Low-threshold oxide-confined 1.3-μm quantum-dot laser

Data are presented on low threshold, 1.3-μm oxide-confined InGaAs-GaAs quantum dot lasers. A very low continuous-wave threshold current of 1.2 mA with a threshold current density of 28 A/cm² is achieved with p-up mounting at room temperature. For slightly larger devices the continuous-wave threshold current density is as low as 19 A/cm²     

A 7-μm praseodymium-based solid-state laser

We report the first demonstration of laser emission from the ³F₃ to ³F₂ transition in the rare earth praseodymium. This new 7-μm solid-state laser operates with an optical efficiency of 2.3% at 293 K and 10% at 150 K using an upconversion pumping mechanism. A discussion of the dynamics in this new laser material is included     

Very low threshold current density of a GaInP/AlGaInP double-heterostructure laser grown by MOCVD

A GaInP/AlGaInP broad-area (60 × 500 ?m2) laser grown by MOCVD has obtained a very low threshold current density Jth of 1.1 kA/cm2. The dependence of Jth and differential quantum efficiency on cavity length was measured to determine internal quantum efficiency, losses and the gain constant, which were found to be comparable to these characteristics in an AlGaAs laser.     

Zn indiffusion waveguide polarizer on a Y-cut LiNbO3 at1.32-μm wavelength

A polarization-dependent loss measurement of Zn indiffusion (ZI) waveguide on a Y-cut LiNbO₃ substrate is firstly reported. The measured results show that the waveguides support either a single extraordinary polarization or both extraordinary and ordinary polarizations depending on the fabrication process parameters. For the single extraordinary polarization waveguide, the measured propagation loss at 1.32-μm wavelength is 0.9 dB/cm and the best measured polarization extinction ratio is 44 dB at a distance of 1.5 cm from the input end, which are quite good for being a waveguide polarizer. Moreover, the voltage-length product measured for the ZI Mach-Zehnder modulator shows that the substrate electrooptic coefficient is not degraded     

1.3-μm Pr-doped In-Ga-based fluoride fiber amplifiers pumped bygrating-fiber-pigtailed 0.98-μm-band laser diodes with a detunedwavelength of 1 μm

At most efficient pump wavelength, a praseodymium-doped In-Ga-based fluoride fiber is directly pumped by four 0.98-μm-band laser diodes. These lasing wavelengths are detuned from 0.98 to 1 μm by external selective optical feedback from fiber grating reflectors. Maximum signal output power of +13.5 dBm is obtained at 1.296 μm. Four-wavelength multiplexed signals at 1.296-1.311 μm are amplified with a deviation of gain less than 1.9 dB. By using the amplifier as a power booster, data of 2.5 Gb/s is successfully transmitted more than 100 km     

1.3-μm CW lasing of InGaAs-GaAs quantum dots at room temperaturewith a threshold current of 8 mA

We demonstrate the first 1.3-μm continuous-wave (CW) lasing at room temperature of self-assembled InGaAs-GaAs quantum dots. High-density 1.3-μm emission dots were successfully formed by the combination of low-rate growth and InGaAs-layer overgrowth methods of molecular beam epitaxy. The 1.3-μm ground-level CW lasing occurred at up to 40°C, and the threshold current of 8 mA at 25°C is less than one thirtieth of values ever reported for 1.3-μm dot pulse lasers. The achievement represents a milestone for creating quantum-dot lasers applicable to fiber-optic communication system     

Low threshold current density 1.3 μm metamorphic InGaAs/GaAs quantum well laser diodes

Very low threshold current density InGaAs/GaAs quantum well laser diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InGaAs metamorphic buffers are reported. The lasing wavelength of the ridge waveguide laser diode with cavity length of 1200 mum is centered at 1337.2 nm; the threshold current density is 205 A/cm² at room temperature under continuous-wave operation.     

1.17-μm highly strained GaInAs-GaAs quantum-well laser

Excellent lasing properties and temperature characteristic of a highly strained 1.17-μm GaInAs-GaAs double-quantum-well laser are reported. We show that a strained buffer layer, which is employed in the device, has no tradeoff on the device performance. For a 1500-μm-long laser with cleaved facets a threshold current density of 200 A/cm² is achieved. A transparency current density of 180 A/cm² is estimated for as cleaved devices. A record high characteristic temperature in this wavelength range of 150 K is achieved     

1.5-μm wavelength tunable phase-shift-controlled distributedfeedback laser

A 1.5 μm wavelength tunable phase-shift-controlled distributed feedback laser diode is studied. This wavelength tunable laser controls the light output power and the oscillation wavelength independently by current injection. During wavelength tuning, the submode suppression ratio is large and an almost constant spectral linewidth from 24 to 29 MHz is achieved over a wavelength tuning range as wide as 113 GHz (9.0 Å). The threshold gain change and the loss change are small during wavelength tuning and as a result an almost constant light output power is achieved     

1.15-μm wavelength oxide-confined quantum-dot vertical-cavitysurface-emitting laser

Low-threshold lasing is achieved at 1.154 μm for an oxide-confined quantum-dot (QD) vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) grown on a GaAs substrate. The long wavelength emission is obtained through use of an InAs-GaAs QD active region. A continuous-wave (CW) threshold of 502 μA is obtained for a device size of 10-μm diameter, corresponding to a threshold current density of 640 A/cm²      

A 1.6-μm pumped 1.9-μm thulium-doped fluoride fiber laser andamplifier of very high efficiency

Results are presented for color center, and semiconductor, laser pumping of the 1.82 μm transition in a thulium-doped fluoride fiber. As an amplifier small signal gain efficiencies of 8.1 dB/mN were attained with a maximum gain of 36.5 dB being achieved for around 17-18 mW of launched pump power. As a laser a maximum slope efficiency of 84% and a minimum threshold for oscillation of 330 μW was also demonstrated for this system. Furthermore by suppressing all reflections down to <36 dB superfluorescent or ASE output was observed. In achieving efficient operation with a diode laser pump source this system shows strong commercial potential     

Low-threshold current density 1.3-μm InAs quantum-dot laserswith the dots-in-a-well (DWELL) structure

The wavelength of InAs quantum dots in an In_0.15Ga_0.85As quantum-well (DWELL) lasers grown on a GaAs substrate has been extended to 1.3-μm. The quantum dot lasing wavelength is sensitive to growth conditions and sample thermal history resulting in blue shifts as much as 73 nm. The room temperature threshold current density is 42.6 A cm^-2 for 7.8-mm cavity length cleaved facet lasers under pulsed operation