Impact of a large negative gain-to-cavity wavelength detuning on the performance of InGaAlAs oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) based on the InGaAlAs-materials system on GaAs substrates are the key component for short-reach data and computer communications systems. Several different modulation schemes have been developed to realize high data bit rates based on various oxide-confined near-infrared VCSEL designs operated under direct current modulation. However, one open question to resolve is the optimal gain-to-cavity wavelength detuning to employ for temperature-stable high-speed performance. We investigate the static and dynamic characteristics of 850 nm high-speed oxide-confined VCSELs with different negative gain-to-cavity wavelength detunings. Our oxideconfined 850 nm VCSELs with a more common ~10 nm negative gain-to-cavity detuning demonstrate the conventional optical mode behavior with a classical single-resonance frequency response. With a larger (≥ 20 nm) negative detuning, our devices with large oxide-aperture size (>6 μm) show an anomalous start of lasing via higher order modes with a subsequent switching to lasing via the lowest order modes at higher currents. At intermediate currents, co-lasing via two types of transverse modes and a two-resonance modulation response is observed. The increase of operation temperature as well as the reduction in the oxide-aperture area resulted in classical lasing of index-guided VCSELs. The observed optical mode behavior can be attributed to the specific index guiding profile caused by the oxide-apertures, low internal optical losses, and the large gain-to-cavity detuning. Moreover, one can suggest that the complex shape of the modulation response results from the mode competition for the available gain during an interesting co-lasing operating regime.