Design of a top spatial filter Bragg waveguide vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

Abstract

We propose a new method for transverse-mode control in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers based on the idea of a Bragg waveguide. This method involves patterning concentric annuli into the top Bragg reflector of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, inducing a cylindrical Bragg waveguide across the laser cavity. We use the effective-index approximation to evaluate the waveguiding effect of patterning the top Bragg reflector. A waveguide model has been developed to design the ideal Bragg waveguide for a specified HE11 mode. The model also calculates the field and power distributions and the optical confinement for the given mode.