High power 1.25   μ m InAs quantum dot vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser

• Published in: Journal of vacuum science & technology. B, Microelectronics and nanometer structures processing, measurement and phenomena Microelectronics and nanometer structures processing, measurement and phenomena, 2011-05, Vol.29 (3)
• Main Authors: Albrecht, Alexander R., Hains, Christopher P., Rotter, Thomas J., Stintz, Andreas, Malloy, Kevin J., Balakrishnan, Ganesh, Moloney, Jerome V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1071-1023; 2166-2746; 1520-8567; 2166-2754
• DOI: 10.1116/1.3555379

The authors demonstrate InAs quantum dot (QD)-based optically pumped vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Active region designs utilizing two different resonant periodic gain (RPG) structures are compared. The first RPG structure is a more traditional design consisting of three QD layers per antinode of the E-field standing wave, repeated four times, for a total of 12 QD layers. The second RPG has a single-QD layer per antinode, repeated 12 times. The single-QD layer per antinode structure allows for both superior strain relief as well as more complete pump absorption and thus results in significantly improved device performance over the traditional multi-QD layer per antinode design. The authors were able to demonstrate over 3 W of output power at room temperature using a thermal grade polycrystalline chemical-vapor deposition diamond heat spreader mounted on the backside of a sample thinned by mechanical polishing.