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The extrinsic parasitics generally limit the modulation bandwidth of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) for optical data links and interconnects. In this article, the extrinsic parasitics of 850-nm VCSELs are investigated by three different designs: oxide-only (design A), oxide-implant (design B), and oxide-implant with benzocyclobutene (BCB) (design C). The static and dynamic characteristics of all the designs with~7- $\mu \text{m}$ aperture are measured and compared. The maximum modulation bandwidth of design A is only about 12 GHz mainly limited by the large parasitic capacitances. With a proper proton implantation, a thick nonconducting layer is created inside the device with design B, which dramatically reduces the parasitic capacitances, and thus the bandwidth is increased to about 18 GHz. Based on design B, a 4- $\mu \text{m}$ -thick BCB layer with low dielectric constant is employed underneath the bond pad of design C to further reduce the pad capacitance, leading to the highest bandwidth about 24 GHz and the highest modulation current efficiency factor (MCEF) of 10.8 GHz/mA1/2. The microwave reflection coefficient (${S}_{{11}}$) parameters of the three designs are measured and compared. Results indicate that design C has the lowest parasitic capacitances and the highest modulation bandwidth, which is preferred for high-speed VCSELs to obtain good static and dynamic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing Bessel beam generators generally require bulk optics counterparts and additional spatial laser sources, which adds complexity and bulkiness to the system. In this work, we propose Bessel beam devices with high compactness based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and microdielectric axicons made by Si3N4. The transparent microaxicons are fabricated by one-step direct writing of focused ion beam (FIB) on the surface of meticulously designed top-emitting VCSELs. Zero- and first-order Bessel beams are obtained by engineering the lasing modes of the VCSELs through simply adjusting the oxide aperture diameter. Even if the VCSEL device works at multimode, Bessel beams can still be realized. This method provides great compatibility with different VCSEL configurations and emitting wavelengths. Such high-compactness devices may enable advanced research and applications relevant to Bessel beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance two-stage bipolar cascade 905nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are designed and fabricated. Three different designs are investigated to compare the electrical and optical properties. Experimental results show that the current spreading and thermal problems are important factors affecting the device performance. The device with two oxide apertures accompanied with a 1.5λ-long active region spacing exhibits a very high slope efficiency of 2.27W/A and a relatively high power conversion efficiency of 52.4%. Such high-performance bipolar cascade VCSELs with 905nm are very important for LiDAR and automotive applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greater than 190 °C continuous wave (CW) lasing is achieved from 905 nm high-efficiency vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 46.3% for 4 μm VCSELs was demonstrated under the ambient temperature of 30 °C. The maximum PCE decreases only 10% of its value from 30 °C to 90 °C, showing stable high-temperature characteristics. The thermal resistances and active region temperatures of the device versus ambient temperature are determined experimentally. Besides, size-dependent thermal characteristics are also analyzed by characterizing the spectral and spatial properties of devices with various apertures. It is found that the higher the ambient temperature is, the less the number of high-order modes is, and single fundamental mode operation can be realized in 4 μm VCSELs even at a relatively high temperature of 190 °C. The design and characterization of these high-temperature VCSEL devices might present the basis for future laser radar application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The output characteristics of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) arrays are largely influenced by temperature. We systematically studied thermal properties in 20-element oxide-confined VCSEL arrays via both theory and experiment. The output power, conversion efficiency, and threshold current dependent on ambient temperatures were measured. According to the relationship of wavelength shift and dissipated power, the device thermal resistance dependent on ambient temperature was obtained. The actual temperature in active region was successfully extracted. A 3-D heat diffusion model was established to simulate temperature distribution accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implant-defined coherent vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays with an integrated phase shifter that can convert the out-of-phase mode into the in-phase mode were demonstrated. The measured angular full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) from a 9 × 9 coherent VCSEL array in the far-field lobes is only 0.82°. The intensity of the central lobe is about 2.9 times than that of surrounding sidelobes, showing excellent beam quality. The FWHM of the spectrum of a 9 × 9 array is only 0.02 nm, showing a single-mode operation. It provides a potential method to fabricate larger in-phase coherent VCSEL arrays. A remaining challenge is enhancing output power via solving the heat problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dependence of beam quality on optical intensity asymmetry among elements in in-phase coherently coupled vertical cavity surface emitting lasers array is analyzed using the finite-difference time domain solutions software. The analysis results reveal that the coupling efficiency of in-phased array decreases and the divergence increases as the level of optical intensity asymmetry increases. Furthermore, an addressable separated-contact three-element triangular in-phased array is fabricated and measured to verify the analysis. The array exhibits a relatively high of coupling efficiency of 24% and a near-diffraction-limit divergence of 3.2° (1.12 times of the diffraction limit, D.L.) when the optical intensity of each element is adjusted to be uniform. By degrading the optical intensity symmetry, the coupling efficiency decreases to 17.07% and the divergence increases to 4.03° ( $1.37\times \text {D.L}$.). After that, a much larger $10\times 10$ array exhibiting in-phase characteristics is produced and its beam quality and optical uniformity are measured and discussed. Analysis and experiment results demonstrate that symmetric optical intensity among elements is essential for in-phased array to achieve high beam quality. Employing separate contacts in the array is proved an effective way to obtain uniform optical intensity and achieve high beam quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-phase coherently coupled proton-implant-defined vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays face difficulties in current spreading, resulting in small array scale, low output power, and broad beamwidth. Although patterned metal grids can improve the current spreading, the undesirable out-of-phase mode tends to be dominant in the array. In this letter, by means of engineering the implantation and array parameters, in-phase mode is obtained in large-scale proton-implant-defined arrays with metal grids. Experimental results show that these arrays are operating in in-phase mode with a nominal interelement spacing of 8 \mu \textm and an implantation depth of 2.22 \mu \textm . By using these parameters, a $5\times 5$ in-phase array with a narrow beamwidth (far-field full width at half maximum) of 1.61° is realized. Besides, a $10\times 10$ in-phase array with a beamwidth of 1.89° and an output power of 10.25 mW for the in-phase mode is achieved. The calculation of far fields is performed to confirm the in-phase operation measured results. Such a simple and low-cost technology provides a promising method for preparing large-scale in-phase coherently coupled VCSEL arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Improving light extraction efficiency is the key issue for light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Nowadays, a vertical structure design dominates LEDs. However, the light from the active region just below the p-electrode is severely blocked by the metal contact. In this letter, we use proton implantation with a depth all the way to the active region to turn the part beneath the p-pad insulating, which constitutes the most-effective-ever current blocking method. Earlier particle implantation studies never reached the device active region. Our experimental results show that the H+-implanted LEDs improve the light output power by 75% compared with non-implanted counterparts and the light intensity increases by 64.48%. By virtue of indium tin oxide current spreading film, the increase in working voltage is negligible. Analyzing the reverse leakage current, the side effect associated with the implantation is limited to an acceptable range. Numerical simulation is performed to support the experiment. Our results represent a new and simple method for solving the light blocking problem in vertical LEDs, without introducing the seemingly existing severe implantation damage to the device structure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Graphene GaN-based Schottky ultraviolet detectors are fabricated. The monolayer graphene is grown by chemical vapor deposition. The graphene is much more transparent than metals, as confirmed by the fact that our devices retain their high responsivity up to 360-nm wavelength (corresponding to the band edge absorption of GaN). Importantly, by virtue of the tunable work function of graphene, the graphene GaN Schottky barrier height can be greatly enlarged. The built-in field is enhanced, and the detector performance is improved. The current ratio with and without luminescence is up to 1.6\times 10^4 . The characteristic time constants of the devices are in the order of a few milliseconds. The device open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current are also increased. At last, special type Schottky devices consisting of GaN nanorods or surface-etched GaN are prepared for complementary study. It is found although the dry etching induced surface defects lead to an increase in the dark current, and these carrier traps also greatly contribute to the photoconductivity under luminescence, resulting in extraordinarily large responsivity (up to 360 A/W at −6 V). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]