ADJUSTABLE SURFACE EMISSION FROM ALGAAS GAAS LASER-DIODES BASED ON FIRST-ORDER-GRATING COUPLED SURFACE-MODE EMISSION/

Strongly improved surface emitting laser diodes based on surface mode emission are presented. A first-order-grating was utilized for the exc itation of the surface modes. This results in an efficient quasi-singl e-beam surface emission with low divergence and a significant narrowin g in the emission spectrum. A variation in the emission wavelength of up to 4 nm is achieved by adjusting the surface waveguide thickness, w hich demonstrates the wavelength selection mechanism of the SME techni que. The decisive advantage of the SME laser diodes in comparison to D FB/DBR laser diodes is their high flexibility in fabrication, which ma kes them very suitable for wavelength division multiplexing applicatio ns. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.