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In this paper, we have proposed a step separate confinement heterostructure (SCH) based lasing nano-heterostructure In_0.90Ga_0.10As_0.59P_0.41/InP consisting of single quantum well (SQW) and investigated material gain theoretically within TE and TM polarization modes. In addition, the quasi Fermi levels in the conduction and valence bands along with other lasing characteristics like anti-guiding factor, refractive index change with carrier density and differential gain have also been investigated and reported. Moreover, the behavior of quasi Fermi levels in respective bands has also been correlated with the material gain. Strain dependent study on material gain and refractive index change has also been reported. Interestingly, strain has been reported to play a very important role in shifting the lasing wavelength of TE mode to TM mode. The results investigated in the work suggest that the proposed unstrained nano-heterostructure is very suitable as a source for optical fiber based communication systems due to its lasing wavelengths achieved at ~1.35 μm within TM mode, while ~1.40 μm within TE mode.

This paper reports on the simulative and comparative study on the effects of multi quantum well (MQW) design parameters on the spectral linewidth of a wafer-bonded GaAs/InP-based, 1.5 μm long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (LW-VCSEL). The device employs InGaAsP MQWs sandwiched between GaAs/AlGaAs and GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) and utilizes a bottom-emitting, air-post design for current confinement. Among the modeled LW-VCSEL devices, the best linewidth achieved was 41.29 MHz at a peak wavelength of 1.57 μm for 8 MQWs with well thicknesses of 5.5 nm each and barrier thicknesses of 8 nm; equivalent to the experimental device developed in the past. Comparison of linewidth values calculated using developed analytical equations that link the MQW parameters to the spectral linewidth versus the actual linewidth from fabricated devices yields error ratios of ~ 6% proving a robust approximation has been achieved.

Long-wavelength VCSELs (LW-VCSEL) operating in the 1.55 μm wavelength regime offer the advantages of low dispersion and optical loss in fiber optic transmission systems which are crucial in increasing data transmission speed and reducing implementation cost of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access networks. LW-VCSELs are attractive light sources because they offer unique features such as low power consumption, narrow beam divergence and ease of fabrication for two-dimensional arrays. This paper compares the near field and far field effects of the numerically investigated LW-VCSEL for various design parameters of the device. The optical intensity profile far from the device surface, in the Fraunhofer region, is important for the optical coupling of the laser with other optical components. The near field pattern is obtained from the structure output whereas the far-field pattern is essentially a two-dimensional fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the near-field pattern. Design parameters such as the number of wells in the multi-quantum-well (MQW) region, the thickness of the MQW and the effect of using Taguchi's orthogonal array method to optimize the device design parameters on the near/far field patterns are evaluated in this paper. We have successfully increased the peak lasing power from an initial 4.84 mW to 12.38 mW at a bias voltage of 2 V and optical wavelength of 1.55 μm using Taguchi's orthogonal array. As a result of the Taguchi optimization and fine tuning, the device threshold current is found to increase along with a slight decrease in the modulation speed due to increased device widths.

A single-mode buried heterostructure laser has been imaged using Cross-Sectional Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (X-STM). The problem of positioning the tip on the restricted active region on the (110) face has been overcome using combined Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

In order to understand the change in the STM scans when biased, particularly the physical change in surface step defects caused by commercial sample preparation, the experimental setup has been modified to allow the sample to be biased. A simpler double quantum well test structure has been biased and it has been demonstrated that it is possible to continue performing STM whilst the device is powered. The change in the relative contrast across the image has been shown to be unaffected by this external bias for the range scanned, as predicted by a fully-coupled Poison drift–diffusion model calculated using Fermi–Dirac statistics.