Search

Record-large modulation bandwidths of 30 GHz and larger have been achieved with state-of-the art directly and indirectly modulated VCSELs and VCSEL arrays. One next big challenge is to make VCSELs viable for integration onto silicon while maintaining large bandwidth values. Various integration schemes of VCSELs might require process variations potentially detrimental for large modulation bandwidths. We present and compare directly modulated oxide-confined top-emitting 980-nm VCSELs processed from one single epitaxial wafer design into four different extracavity and intracavity contact variations.

Substrate-emitting GaAs based oxide-confined 980-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with top-surface high-frequency ground-source-ground contact pads are designed, fabricated, and characterized. The devices are composed of standard top and bottom epitaxially-grown AlGaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). The top (p)DBR is capped with p-contact Ti then Au thin-film metals for uniform current injection and laser emission is through the GaAs substrate. The devices are realized on a single epitaxial wafer with n-ohmic-contacts placed on a thick (n+)GaAs buffer layer beneath the bottom (n)DBR and alternatively with the n-ohmic-contacts placed on an (n)GaAs intra-cavity layer lying within the same bottom (n)DBR. Static device parameters including threshold current and rollover current, differential resistance, peak optical output power, and wall-plug efficiency are extracted for VCSELs with oxide-aperture diameters ranging from about 3 to 9-µm and at different temperatures. At room temperature threshold currents are achieved from the sub-mA range up to about 3.5-mA with maximum output powers exceeding 15-mW. Increasing the temperature up to 85 °C slightly increases the threshold current while the peak output power is about halved. The differential resistance at the thermal rollover current is comparable for standard and intra-cavity n-metal-contacts. Small-signal analysis is performed for different bias currents, temperatures, oxide-aperture diameters, and the two n-contact options. Under optimal bias conditions the 3-dB bandwidth exceeds 15 GHz. Direct current modulation-based on-off keying signal generation is investigated from 10 to 40-Gb/s. The influence of an anti-reflection-coated substrate, a thinned substrate, and the combination of both is investigated and discussed.

Monolithic semiconductor passively mode locked lasers (MLL) are very attractive components for many applications including high bit rate telecommunications, microwave photonics and instrumentation. Owing to the three dimensional confinement of the charge carriers, quantum dot based mode-locked lasers have been the subject of intense investigations because of their improved performance compared to conventional material systems. Indeed, the inhomogeneous gain broadening and the ultrafast absorption recovery dynamics are an asset for short pulse generation. Moreover, the weak coupling of amplified spontaneous emission with the guided modes plus low loss waveguide leads to low timing jitter. Our work concentrates on InAs quantum dash nanostructures grown on InP substrate, intended for applications in the 1.55 μm telecom window. InAs/InP quantum dash based lasers, in particular, have demonstrated efficient mode locking in single section Fabry-Perot configurations. The flat optical spectrum of about 12 nm, combined with the narrow RF beat note linewidth of about 10 kHz make them a promising technology for optical frequency comb generation. Coherence between spectral modes was assessed by means of spectral phase measurements. The parabolic spectral phase profile indicates that short pulses can be obtained provided the intracavity dispersion can be compensated by inserting a single mode fiber.

Monolithic semiconductor mode-locked lasers (MLLs) are rising considerable interest for such diverse applications as very high speed optical time division multiplexing sources (40-160 GHz), all-optical signal processing, and low noise sampling for signal monitoring of optical networks. In a large number of these applications, MLLs may be subjected to optical feedback generated by unwanted reflections in optical systems which may greatly degrade laser performance. A number of experimental studies have been performed to evaluate the sensitivity of MLLs to optical feedback showing an increase of phase noise [1-5]. Quantum-dash (Qdash) based Fabry Perot lasers have been shown to exhibit an improved tolerance to feedback [6]. In this work, optical feedback tolerance is investigated for a monolithic quantum-dash-based passive mode-locked laser emitting at 1.58 μm. The two-section device generates ~5 ps pulses at a repetition rate of 17 GHz. The onset of the coherence collapse (CC) regime is experimentally determined by measuring the broadening of the longitudinal modes in the optical spectrum. Depending on bias condition, the CC regime is reached for values of feedback ranging from -35 dB to -29 dB at which emitted pulses were slighly broadened. The radio-frequency (RF) linewidth was simultaneously assessed and a drastic reduction of the RF linewidth with increasing feedback strength is evidenced. This indicates a reduction of the phase noise, thus implying a low "high frequency" timing jitter. We in particular observed an RF linewidth narrowing down to a value of less than 1 kHz under optical feedback.