Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with birefringence splitting above 250 GHz

Using the elasto-optic effect, increase of the frequency difference between the two orthogonally polarised modes, the so-called birefringence splitting, in standard single-mode oxide-confined AlGaAs-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is achieved to values beyond 250 GHz. A large birefringence is required for the generation of ultra-fast polarisation oscillations for potential future high-speed communication applications.