Novel technologies for 1.55-mu m vertical cavity lasers

We report on three novel vertical-cavity laser (VCL) structures for 1.55-mu m operation. Two of the structures utilize an n-type GalnAsP/InP Bragg mir ror combined with an Al(Ga)As/GaAs mirror using either wafer fusion or meta morphic epitaxial growth. The third employs two wafer-fused AlGaAs/GaAs mir rors, in which lateral current confinement is obtained by localized fusion of the p mirror. Ali three VCLs use strained GalnAsP quantum welts as activ e material and achieve continuous-wave (cw) operation at room temperature o r above. The single fused VCL operates up to 17 and 101 degrees C in contin uous-wave and pulsed mode, respectively. The monolithic VCL-structure with a metamorphic GaAs/AlAs n-type mirror uses a reverse-biased tunnel junction for current injection. This laser achieves record high output power (1 mW) at room temperature and operates cw up to 45 degrees C. The double fused V CLs with a 10x10-mu m(2) active area operate cw up to 30 degrees C with thr eshold current as low as 2.5 mA and series resistance of 30 Omega. The emis sion spectra exhibit a single lasing mode polarized with 30-dB extinction r atio and a spectral linewidth of 150 MHz. (C) 2000 society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(00)02702-1].