Novel distributed feedback structure for surface-emitting semiconductor lasers

A novel distributed feedback structure for wavelength-resonant surface-emitting semiconductor lasers is proposed and demonstrated. Compared to earlier resonant-periodic-gain devices, the total thickness of the new structure can be considerably smaller while retaining the characteristic features of the resonant-periodic-gain active medium. Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of first distributed-feedback resonant-periodic-gain AlGaAs/GaAs/AlAs laser is reported.