Near-field scanning optical microscopy of cleaved vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) and near-field optical spectroscopy (NFOS) techniques have been applied to cleaved vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Collection mode NSOM of the cleaved VCSEL operating above the threshold current indicates emission outside the active layer. Using the spatially resolved spectroscopy afforded by NFOS, it was possible to map changes in the electroluminescence spectrum with spatial resolution of the order of 100 nm . The emission spectra acquired with the tip positioned over the p-DBR layers show evidence for p-DBR luminescence. The p-DBR luminescence indicates the presence of minority carriers in this region of the device which have been postulated as a cause of dark line defects (DLDs) which play an important role in device degradation.

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