LOW-THRESHOLD 840-NM LATERALLY OXIDIZED VERTICAL-CAVITY LASERS USING ALINGAAS-ALGAAS STRAINED ACTIVE LAYERS

We explore the use of a novel strained AlInGaAs-AlGaAs material system to achieve low-threshold current in oxide-apertured vertical-cavity l asers (VCL's) emitting near 850 nm, We report a low continuous-wave (C W) room-temperature threshold current of 290 mu A from top-emitting, 8 40-nm VCL's with a 5-mu m-wide thin-oxide aperture, The low-threshold current has been attributed to the use of strained active layers, whic h increase the gain and reduce the transparency current, We also studi ed the effects of postgrowth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the char acteristics of AlInGaAs-AlGaAs VCL's and found that RTA improves the m aterial quality and significantly enhances VCL performance.