ANALYSIS OF A HIGH-DENSITY 2-DIMENSIONAL VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY

A two-dimensional vertical-cavity surface emitting laser array is expe cted to be a key device for parallel lightwave transmission and optica l interconnection systems. This paper analyzes the number of channels in a two-dimensional vertical-cavity surface emitting laser array, fro m the viewpoint of the electric power consumption and the light-output . Dependence of the number of channels on several parameters is examin ed. It was found that high slope efficiency and low electrical resista nce lead to a large number of channels, and the contribution of thresh old reduction is small if the threshold current is of the order of 100 mu A or less. It is also shown that if each channel is composed of pl ural elements, the number of channels increases.