CW lasing of current injection blue GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser

Here, we report the cw laser operation of electrically pumped GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL). The GaN-based VCSEL has a ten-pair InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well active layer embedded in a GaN hybrid microcavity of 5 lambda optical thickness with two high reflectivity mirrors provided by an epitaxially grown AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a Ta2O5/SiO2 dielectric DBR. cw laser action was achieved at a threshold injection current of 1.4 mA at 77 K. The laser emitted a blue wavelength at 462 nm with a narrow linewidth of about 0.15 nm. The laser beam has a divergence angle of about 11.7 degrees with a polarization ratio of 80%. A very strong spontaneous coupling efficiency of 7.5x10(-2) was measured. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.