Investigations on Spectro-Temporally Resolved Stokes Polarization Parameters of Transverse Multi-Mode Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

We present comprehensive studies of the temporal polarization behavior of oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in terms of Stokes polarization parameters (SPPs) on microsecond time scales. The observed complex temporal polarization dynamics of the total emission will be attributed, after its spectrally decomposition, to the polarization contributions of each individual transverse mode. We demonstrate that the main physical origin for the complex polarization dynamics is the dynamic evolution of the device temperature. Finally, we compare reconstructed with directly measured temporally resolved SPPs, which allow us to understand the dynamics of the degree of polarization of transverse multi-mode VCSELs.