Oxide confined 850-nm VCSELs for high-speed datacom applications

Abstract

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are low cost and reliable light sources for high-speed local area and storage area network (LAN/SAN) optical fiber data communication systems and all other short-reach high-speed data transfer applications. The intrinsic limitations of copper-based electrical links at data rates exceeding 10 Gbit/s leads to a progressive movement wherein optical communication links replace traditional short-reach (300 m or shorter) copper interconnects. The wavelength of 850 nm is the standard for LAN/SAN applications as well as for several other evolving short-reach application areas including Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, Universal Serial Bus (optical USB), and active optical cables. Here we present our recent results on 850 nm oxide-confined VCSELs operating at data bit rates up to 40 Gbit/s at low current densities of ~10 kA/cm² ensuring device reliability and long-term stability based on conventional industry certification specifications. The relaxation resonance frequencies, damping factors, and parasitic cut-off frequencies are determined for VCSELs with oxide-confined apertures of various diameters. At the highest optical modulation rates the VCSELs' high speed operation is limited by parasitic cut-off frequencies of 24-28 GHz. We believe that by further reducing device parasitics we will produce current modulated VCSELs with optical modulation bandwidths larger than 30 GHz and data bit rates beyond 40 Gbit/s.