Half-symmetric cavity microelectromechanically tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with single spatial mode operating near 950 nm

We describe tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with a half-sym metric cavity structure. The cavity is realized by inducing a curvature (R similar to 300 mu m) in the top movable dielectric mirror. This half-symmet ric microcavity forces lasing oscillations in a single fundamental spatial mode with a side-mode suppression ratio of > 25 dB. Continuous wavelength t uning of 44 nm was achieved microelectromechanically with a tuning voltage of 14 V. The device operates near 950 nm with maximum power output of simil ar to 0.9 mW. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)04833- 0].