Design of a 1.55 µm nanoscale laser array on v-groove patterned Si substrates

Abstract

A 1.55 µm nanoscale laser array is proposed and designed on v-groove patterned Si (0 0 1) substrates. The laser array is designed by taking full advantage of the periodic groove structures of the patterned substrates. The periodic groove structures separated by a SiO2 mask can effectively reduce threading dislocation density in the active region and provide a strong lateral optical confinement for the laser array structure. The optical mode distributions of the single laser are investigated in detail, and the optical confinement factor is calculated to optimize the structure parameters of the laser array. An optimal value of 9.3% for the optical confinement factor is obtained. The analysis of threshold conditions shows that the laser array can achieve lasing with a cavity length of about 1 mm for an internal loss of 40 cm−1.