Research of the use of silver nanowires as a current spreading layer on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Silver nanowire（AgNW） film was proposed to apply on the surface of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers（VCSELs） with large aperture in order to obtain a uniform current distribution in the active region and a better optical beam quality.Optimization of the AgNW film was carried out with the sheet resistance of 28.4 Ω/sq and the optical transmission of 94.8% at 850 nm.The performance of VCSELs with and without AgNW film was studied.When the AgNW film was applied to the surface of VCSELs,due to its better current spreading effect,the maximum output optical power increased from 23.4 mW to 24.4 mW,the lasing wavelength redshift decreased from 0.085 nm/mA to 0.077 nm/mA,the differential resistance decreased from 23.95 Ω to 21.13 Ω,and the far field pattern at 50 mA decreased from 21.6° to 19.2°.At the same time,the near field test results showed that the light in the aperture was more uniform,and the far field exhibited a better single peak characteristic.Various results showed that VCSELs with AgNW on the surface showed better beam quality.

Polarization-Stable 980 nm Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers with Diamond-Shaped Oxide Aperture

Polarization-stable 980 nm oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with 3 μm diamond-shaped aper- ture are fabricated by comprehensively utilizing the anisotropic properties of wet etching and wet nitrogen oxida- tion of Ⅲ-Ⅴ semiconductor materials. Polarization-stable operation along the major axis of the diamond-shaped oxide aperture with 11 dB orthogonal polarization suppression ratio is achieved in a temperature range of 15-55℃ from the threshold to 4 mA.

Optimal oxide-aperture for improving the power conversion efficiency of VCSEL arrays

The maximum power conversion efficiencies of the top-emitting,oxide-confined,two-dimensional integrated 2×2 and4×4 vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser（VCSEL） arrays with the oxide-apertures of 6 μm,16 μm,19 μm,26 μm,29 μm,36 μm,39 μm,and 46 urn are fabricated and characterized,respectively.The maximum power conversion efficiencies increase rapidly with the augment of oxide-aperture at the beginning and then decrease slowly.A maximum value of27.91%at an oxide-aperture of 18.6 μm is achieved by simulation.The experimental data are well consistent with the simulation results,which are analyzed by utilizing an empirical model.

Apodized grating coupler using fully-etched nanostructures

A two-dimensional apodized grating coupler for interfacing between single-mode fiber and photonic circuit is demonstrated in order to bridge the mode gap between the grating coupler and optical fiber. The grating grooves of the grating couplers are realized by columns of fully etched nanostructures, which are utilized to digitally tailor the effective refractive index of each groove in order to obtain the Gaussian-like output diffractive mode and then enhance the coupling efficiency.Compared with that of the uniform grating coupler, the coupling efficiency of the apodized grating coupler is increased by 4.3% and 5.7%, respectively, for the nanoholes and nanorectangles as refractive index tunes layer.

Design of two-dimensional apodized grating couplers with Gaussian diffractive mode

Two-dimensional apodized grating couplers are proposed with grating grooves realized by a series of nano- rectangles, with the feasibility of digital tailoring the equivalent refractive index of each groove in order to obtain the Gaussian output diffractive mode in order to enhance the coupling efficiency to the optical fiber. According to the requirement of leakage factor distribution for a Gaussian output profile, the corresponding effective re- fractive index of the grating groove, duty cycle, and period are designed according to the equivalent medium theory. The peak coupling efficiency of 93.1% at 1550 nm and 3 dB bandwidth of 82 nm are achieved.