POLARIZATION BEHAVIOR OF SURFACE-EMITTING SEMICONDUCTOR-LASERS IN AN AXIAL MAGNETIC-FIELD

We show experimentally that the emission of a surface-emitting semicon ductor laser becomes elliptically polarized in the presence of an axia l magnetic field. This ellipticity is accompanied by a change of the m ode spectrum. The overall results are consistent with a linear model d escribing the combined effect of birefringence and Faraday rotation. A weak onset of non-linear polarization behavior is observed; this is a scribed to the polarization dependence of the gain saturation.