High-power single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers using strain-controlled disorder-defined apertures

Strain-engineered diffusion masks deposited via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition are demonstrated to control the curvature of the zinc diffusion front and, hence, disordering front, in disorder-defined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for enhanced high-power single-mode operation. Tensilely strained silicon nitride diffusion masks are applied to limit the lateral undercut of the disordering front, thereby minimizing the interaction between the disordered region of the distributed Bragg reflector and the fundamental mode. This results in higher threshold modal gain and absorption losses from the disordered region for higher-order modes while enabling greater output powers for fundamental-mode operation in single-mode impurity-induced disordered VCSEL designs. Using this technique, 850 nm AlGaAs VCSELs are shown to operate in a single fundamental mode with record optical output powers in excess of 10 mW and side-mode suppression ratios greater than 35 dB. Electrical and optical performances of these devices are presented in addition to near-field images confirming single-fundamental-mode lasing.