Single-Mode Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser via Oxide-Aperture-Engineering of Leakage of High-Order Transverse Modes

Properly designed oxide-confined vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) allows leakage of the optical modes from the all-semiconductor core region to the selectively oxidized periphery if the orthogonality between the core mode and the modes on the periphery is broken by the oxidation-induced optical field redistribution. The leakage losses are stronger for high-order transverse modes, which have a higher field intensity close to the oxidized region. Single mode lasing in the fundamental mode can thus proceed up to large aperture diameters. The 850-nm GaAlAs thick oxide aperture VCSEL based on this concept is designed, modeled, and fabricated, showing single-mode lasing with the aperture diameters up to 5 mu m. Side mode suppression ratio >20 dB is realized at the current density of similar to 10 kA/cm(2) in devices with the series resistance of 90 Omega.