High-frequency beam steering in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers: Optical gain and waveguiding effects

A. Valle, P. Rees, L. Pesquera, K. A. Shore

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Static and dynamic characteristics of weakly index-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers in a multitransverse-mode regime are analyzed by use of a model that takes into account the transverse modes supported by the waveguide and a consistent spectral gain including many-body effects. Waveguide effects are addressed by consideration of different refractive-index steps. We show that stronger competition between transverse modes occurs when their confinement in the waveguide is increased. Selection of a particular high-order transverse mode by use of azimuthal-dependent current profiling can be obtained over a wide current range. We study the alternate current modulation of two orthogonal high-order transverse modes, taking into account thermal effects. This current-induced spatial switching leads to good-quality high-frequency beam steering in the laser azimuthal direction when an appropriate current profile is considered according to the refractive-index step.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2045-2054
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics
Volume16
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1999

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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