High-performance single-mode VCSELs in the 1310-nm waveband

High-performance vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting in the 1310-nm waveband are fabricated by bonding AlGaAs-GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors on both sides of a InP-based cavity. A 2-in wafer bonding process is optimized to produce very good on-wafer device parameter uniformity. Carrier injection is implemented via double intracavity contact layers and a tunnel junction. A 1.2-mW single-mode output power is obtained in the temperature range of 20/spl deg/C-80/spl deg/C. Modulation capability at 3.2 Gb/s is demonstrated up to 70/spl deg/C. Overall VCSEL performance complies with the requirements of the 10 GBASE-LX4 IEEE.802.3ae standard, which opens the way for novel applications of VCSELs emitting in the 1310-nm band.     

Quantum wire lasers

Recent progress in the development of the concept and technology of semiconductor quantum wire (QWR) lasers is reviewed. In these quasi-one-dimensional structures, optical gain is provided by charge carriers that are quantum mechanically confined in two dimensions within wire-like active regions. These devices are expected to exhibit improved laser performance, including extremely low threshold currents (in the μA range), higher modulation bandwidth, narrower spectral linewidth, and reduced temperature sensitivity. QWR lasers would thus be particularly useful in applications involving densely packed laser arrays and monolithic integration of lasers with low-power electronics, including computer optical interconnects, optical computing, and integrated optoelectronic circuits. Approaches for fabricating these novel structures are reviewed, and recent successful demonstrations of lasing in semiconductor QWRs are described. Prospects for further progress in this area are also discussed     

Carrier transfer and capture into quantum wire arrays grown on V-groove substrates

The mechanisms of carrier transfer from barrier regions (superlattices, side-wall and vertical quantum wells) into arrays of quantum wires are investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence. The wires are grown by different techniques on V-groove substrates. The transfer times range from 25 to 900 ps, depending on the details of the whole structure. The fast carrier transfer is modeled by a diffusion equation which allows one to estimate the quantum mechanical capture time from a two-dimensional vertical QW into a one-dimensional QWR to be <2 ps.     

Dynamic dipole-dipole interactions between excitons in quantum dots of different sizes

A model of the resonance dynamic dipole-dipole interaction between excitons confined in quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes at close enough distance is given in terms of parity inheritance and exchange of virtual photons. Microphotoluminescence spectra of GaAs-AlGaAs coupled QDs are proposed to be analyzed by this model, including features created by high-speed random switching, depending on the carrier configuration in and around the QD pair, between the dipole-dipole split states and the nonsplit states to give double peaks at both of the QDs.     

The supermode structure of phase-locked diode laser arrays with variable channel spacing

The supermode structure of index-guided, phase-locked arrays of diode lasers with nonuniform laser spacing is investigated theoretically. It is shown that in a variable spacing array, the super-mode field patterns can be significantly different from those of a uniform array. However, in a variable-spacing array withNelements, supermodes ν andN + 1 - nu(nu = 1, 2, ..., N)have similar near-field intensity patterns and modal gains, as in the case of uniform arrays. As a result, the discrimination between the fundamental (0° phase shift) and the highest order (180° phase shift) supermodes is small and depends sensitively on the amount of gain in the interchannel regions, as for uniform arrays. This may explain the inefficient supermode discrimination and the wide beams exhibited by variable-spacing diode laser arrays, in contrast to the strong discrimination and the narrow beams obtained with chirped (variable channel width) arrays structures.     

Polarization stability of phase-locked arrays of vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers

The polarization stability of the fundamental lasing super-mode obtained from coherently coupled arrays of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers has been investigated. Various devices have been analyzed and none showed the abrupt change of the polarization direction (flip) often observed in solitary devices. This polarization stability is due to a current independent dichroism of 0.5 GHz     

1550 nm-band VCSEL 0.76 mW singlemode output power in 20-80/spl deg/C temperature range

Wafer-fused InGaAlAs/AlGaAs vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with InAlGaAs-based tunnel junction injection have shown record high 0.7 mW singlemode output power in the 10-80/spl deg/C temperature range. Single transverse-mode operation with 35 dB sidemode suppression and low divergence beam with 9/spl deg/ half width at half maximum has been measured on devices with 7 /spl mu/m aperture.     

Extension of Coupled Mode Analysis to Infinite Photonic Superlattices

Coupled-mode theory (CMT) is extended to the case of infinite 2-D photonic arrays, made of periodically repeated identical groups of different waveguides (supercells). Born-Karman boundary conditions, applied to the CMT equations for this system, are used to compute the photonic band structure. This method was found to be more efficient and much less resource-consuming than the existing approaches, for the analysis of finite large-sized arrays.     

Transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional quantum confinement in semiconductor quantum wires/quantum dots

We report the photoluminescence (PL) and polarization-resolved PL characteristics of a novel GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire/dot semiconductor system, realized by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy of site-controlled, self-assembled nanostructures in inverted tetrahedral pyramids. By systematically changing the length of the quantum wires, we implement a continuous transition between the regimes of two-dimensional and three-dimensional quantum confinement. The two main evidences for this transition are observed experimentally and confirmed theoretically: (i) strongly blue-shifted ground-state emission, accompanied by increase separation of ground and excited transition energies; and (ii) change in the orientation of the main axis of linear polarization of the photoluminescence, from parallel to perpendicular with respect to the wire axis. This latter effect, whose origin is shown to be purely due to quantum confinement and valence band mixing, sets in at wire lengths of only approximately 30 nm.