Long-wavelength Vertical-cavity Surface-emitting Lasers Research Articles

New Packaging Technology for 2-dimensional VCSEL Arrays and Their Electro-Optical Performance and Applications

At IMAPS2021, we reported on 1-dimensional VCSEL arrays and the packaging technology developed for these arrays, but this time we present the manufacturing workflow and look at the challenges presented by the packaging of special long-wavelength 2-dimensional vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays in various dimensions. We will show that available packaging technologies for epoxy application by silk screening, die- and wire bonding can be adapted for the unique properties of the 2D VCSEL arrays, delivering high accuracy for production with great overall yield. Proof of the excellent reliability and lifetime will be given through mechanical and electro-optical testing results. The technologies developed for 2D laser arrays will enable new devices for various new applications like high channel count interconnects for data communication and high power VCSEL solutions for 3D sensing. The perfected wire bonding process secured a homogeneous monometallic structure of the wire bonds, a reduced, well defined bond loop height, with sufficient clearance of the bonding wire above the VCSEL surface. Properly set-up manufacturing procedures for the packaging of the VCSEL arrays are necessary to achieve high performance and reliability of the products presented. Processing of large 2D-VCSEL arrays will be part of the paper. 2D arrays have enabled VCSEL technologies to address a wide range of new laser-based sensing applications. VCSEL products vary from laser chips with only a few emitters for proximity sensors up to several thousands of emitters for LiDAR systems. Applications include systems for the automotive, industrial, medical and consumer markets. There is a strong and growing market opportunity for long wavelengths VCSELs, e.g. based on InP material enabling single mode and multi-mode 2D-VCSEL arrays from 1.3 to beyond 2 µm. For 3D sensing systems and free-space optical communication, long wavelength 2D-VCSEL arrays offer improved eye safety and further benefits. The long wavelength VCSELs discussed in this paper can be deployed in a wide range of sensing and optical communication applications.

Long-Wavelength VCSELs: Status and Prospects

Single-mode long-wavelength (LW) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) present an inexpensive alternative to DFB-lasers for data communication in next-generation giga data centers, where optical links with large transmission distances are required. Narrow wavelength-division multiplexing systems demand large bit rates and single longitudinal and transverse modes. Spatial division multiplexing transmission through multicore fibers using LW VCSELs is enabling still larger-scale data center networks. This review discusses the requirements for achieving high-speed modulation, as well as the state-of-the-art. The hybrid short-cavity concept allows for the realization of f3dB frequencies of 17 GHz and 22 GHz for 1300 nm and 1550 nm range VCSELs, respectively. Wafer-fusion (WF) concepts allow the realization of long-time reliable LW VCSELs with a record single-mode output power of more than 6 mW, 13 GHz 3 dB cut-off frequency, and data rates of 37 Gbit/s for non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulation at 1550 nm.

1.3 μm optically-pumped monolithic VCSEL based on GaAs with InGa(Al)As superlattice active region

Неre we report a monolitic long-wavelength vertical cavity surface-emitting laser based on GaAs with bottom GaAs/AlGaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), metamorphic optical cavity with In0.41Ga0.59As/In0.25Ga0.75As-active region providing emission near 1.3 μm with high modal optical gain and top dielectric SiO2/Ta2O5 DBRs. We achieve continious wave single-mode operation at room temperature under optical pumping. The proposed approach has potential for high output power and high temperature (up to 200 °C) stable operation.

The Effect of a Saturable Absorber in Long-Wavelength Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers Fabricated by Wafer Fusion Technology

An investigation has been performed of 1.55-μm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers based on heterostructures with a buried tunnel junction (BTJ) with a height difference of 15 nm. The devices are obtained by wafer fusion of heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy and provide single-mode lasing at a BTJ diameter of up to 8 μm. A decrease in the BTJ size leads to a sharp increase in the threshold current, the output optical power, and the resonance frequency at the lasing threshold. Stable single-mode lasing takes place due to the smoothed boundary of the buried surface relief, which induces a gradual change in the profile of the effective refractive index in the lateral direction with the effective current confinement retained. This makes it possible to reduce significantly the transverse optical confinement factor for the higher-order modes even at a large BTJ size. However, at a small BTJ size, it leads to the formation of a saturable absorber in unpumped parts of the active region.

1.55-μm-Range Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, Manufactured by Wafer Fusion of Heterostructures Grown by Solid-Source Molecular-Beam Epitaxy

The results are presented of a study and optimization of the conditions under which heterointerfaces of the GaAs–InGaAsP type are formed via the direct intermolecular wafer bonding (fusion) of a heterostructure of an active region on an InP substrate and distributed Bragg reflectors on GaAs substrates upon the fabrication of hybrid heterostructures for long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The heterostructures are grown by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy. It is shown that, in the case of the incomplete removal of oxide films during preparation of the wafers before fusion and/or in the presence of adsorbed water on the wafer surfaces, the fused interface contains a large number of amorphous inclusions, which are most likely oxides of Group-III elements. Optimization of the conditions in which a buried tunnel junction is formed on the surface of the heterostructure on an InP wafer made it possible to reduce the surface roughness to 1 nm and to ensure that the thickness of the GaAs–InGaAsP fused interface does not exceed 5 nm, with no dislocations or other extended defects found at the fused heterointerfaces. The 1.55-μm VCSELs fabricated from the hybrid heterostructures created using the developed technology demonstrate efficient lasing under continuous-wave pumping in a wide temperature range, which is indicative of the high optical quality of the fused heterointerfaces in the VCSEL structure.

Flexible transmitters based on directly modulated VCSELs for next-generation 50G passive optical networks

Discrete multitone (DMT) modulation, due to its water-filling nature, is proposed to enable flexibility in passive optical networks (PONs), optimizing the PON resource usage. The use of DMT signals to directly modulate long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) can provide energy-efficient transmitters for 50G PONs. First, we present preliminary experimental measures employing both single-sideband and dual-sideband DMT modulation with already available short-cavity VCSELs operating in the third window to study the PON performance as a function of the accumulated chromatic dispersion and of the received power. The experimental results are then compared with simulations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the developed simulation tool. Then we study the performance of DMT-modulated transmitters based on next-generation short-cavity VCSELs with higher bandwidth (up to 20 GHz) operating in the O-band, evaluating their chromatic dispersion resilience. Finally, considering the statistics of a commercially deployed PON, we demonstrate that DMT modulation, providing link adaptation, offers a significant increase in the total aggregated capacity compared to a single-carrier-based fixed-rate PON, optimizing the PON resource usage with respect to the available power budget and the dispersion impairments.

Photonic Associative Learning Neural Network Based on VCSELs and STDP

In this article, we propose a photonic neural network (PNN) to emulate associative learning and forgetting for the first time. The PNN contains three photonic neurons based on 1550nm long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) subject to double polarized optical injection. A computational model of the PNN is derived based on the well-known spin-flip model. According to the learning rule named spike-time-dependent plasticity (STDP), the connection weight between neurons in the PNN is modified by self-learning. The simulation results show that, during the associative learning process, an association of feeding food and bell ringing is established within the Long-term synaptic potentiation window of the STDP; while, the association is forgotten within the Long-term depression window of the STDP in the forgetting process. Moreover, the effects of time interval between two pre-synaptic spikes on the speed of associative learning and forgetting are considered in detail. Finally, we further realize pattern recall based on the photonic associative learning, which shows promises for emerging applications of a large-scale energy-efficient PNN.

Performance of 1550 nm VCSEL at 10 Gb/s in G.655 and G.652 SSMF

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are now major optical sources in optical communication and technology. The VCSEL-based transmission systems satisfy the next generation optical fibre access networks requirements such as low output power, low threshold currents, no optical amplification and use of single fibre for signal transmission. High speed and long wavelength 1550 nm VCSEL are attractive candidates for use in short distance transmission system due to its cost effectiveness and low drive currents. The performance of VCSEL, especially with respect to the low output power characteristics, has made significant progress. However, dispersion and attenuation is a major hurdle to VCSELs transmission at bit rate of 10 Gb/s and above. In this study, we experimentally and theoretically evaluate the capability of 1550 nm VCSEL to operate upto 10 Gb/s on G.655 and G.652 fibres. We present VCSEL characterization and BER performance as a function of received power. A 1550 nm VCSEL was directly modulated with 10 Gb/s NRZ PRBS 2⁷-1 and transmitted over 25 km ITU. T G.652 and ITU. T G.655 fibres. Error free transmission (with bit error rate, BER, of 10^-9) over 25 km G.655 single mode fibre (SMF) has been demonstrated. The Q factor was used theoretically to quantify the performance of the VCSEL. The Q factor increased with the increase in the output power at the receiver. High Q factor values of 6 and above were achieved when 1550 nm VCSEL was transmitted over G.655 fibre. These results show the feasibility of long-wavelength VCSELs in the deployment of enhanced optical access networks.

DSP-Free and Real-Time NRZ Transmission of 50 Gb/s Over 15-km SSMF and 64 Gb/s Back-to-Back With a 1.3-μm VCSEL

We demonstrate and analyze 50 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) transmission over 15 km of standard single-mode fiber (SSMF), 60-Gb/s NRZ transmission over 5 km of SSMF and up to 64-Gb/s NRZ back-to-back using a directly modulated short-cavity long-wavelength single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) emitting at 1326 nm. Owing to an analog 6-tap transmit feedforward equalizer, the link can operate without digital signal processing. In all three cases, real-time bit error ratio measurements below the 7% overhead hard-decision forward error correction threshold are demonstrated when transmitting a pseudo-random bit sequence with a period of $2^7-1$ bits. In addition, we analyze the interplay between the residual fiber chromatic dispersion at the operating wavelength of the VCSEL and the chirp due to direct modulation. These results demonstrate how O-band, short-cavity long-wavelength single-mode VCSELs can be used in intradata center networks, as well as in interdata center networks at reaches below 15 km.

Impact of Chirp in High-Capacity Optical Metro Networks Employing Directly-Modulated VCSELs

Directly modulated long-wavelength vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are considered for the implementation of sliceable bandwidth/bitrate variable transceivers for very high capacity transmission (higher than 50 Gb/s per wavelength) in metropolitan area systems characterized by reduced cost, power consumption, and footprint. The impact of the frequency chirp measured for InP VCSELs with different kinds of design (high-bandwidth very short cavity and widely-tunable with micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) top mirror) is analyzed in case of discrete multitone (DMT) direct modulation in combination with 25-GHz wavelength selective switch (WSS) filtering. The maximum transmitted capacity for both dual side- and single side-band DMT modulation is evaluated as a function of the number of crossed nodes in a mesh metro network, comparing VCSEL based transmitters performance also with the case of external electro-absorption modulator use. Finally, the maximum reach achieved based on the received optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) and the fiber span length is discussed. The results confirm the possibility to use directly-modulated long-wavelength VCSELs for the realization of sliceable bandwidth/bitrate variable transmitters targeting 50-Gb/s capacity per polarization, also in the presence of 5 crossed WSSs for reaches of hundreds of kilometers in multi-span Erbium-doped fiber amplified (EDFA) metro links supported by coherent detection.

Optical Transmitter Based on a 1.3-μm VCSEL and a SiGe Driver Circuit for Short-Reach Applications and Beyond

Long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (LW-VCSELs) with emission wavelength in the 1.3-μm region for intensity modulation (IM)/direct detection optical transmissions enable longer fiber reach compared to C-band VCSELs, thanks to the extremely low chromatic dispersion impact at that wavelength. A lot of effort has been recently dedicated to novel cavity designs in order to enhance LW-VCSELs' modulation bandwidth to allow higher data rates. Another approach to further improve VCSEL-based IM speed consists of making use of dedicated driver circuits implementing feedforward equalization (FFE). In this paper, we present a transmitter assembly incorporating a four-channel 0.13-μm SiGe driver circuit wire-bonded to a novel dual 1.3-μm VCSEL array. The short-cavity indium phosphide buried tunnel junction VCSEL design minimizes both the photon lifetime and the device parasitic currents. The integrated driver circuit requires 2.5-V supply voltage only due to the implementation of a pseudobalanced regulator; it includes a two-tap asymmetric FFE, where magnitude, sign, relative delay, and pulse width distortion of the taps can be modified. Through the proposed transmitter, standard single-mode fiber reach of 20 and 4.5 km, respectively, for 28- and 40-Gb/s data rate has been demonstrated with state-of-the-art power consumption. Transmitter performance has been analyzed through pseudorandom bit sequences of both 2 7 -1 and 2 31 -1 length, and the additional benefit due to the use of the driver circuit has been discussed in detail. A final comparison with state-of-the-art VCSEL drivers is also includedt.

Mirror design for long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

A kind of bottom mirror, fabricated using a nano-scale epitaxy method, is proposed for long-wavelength InP-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The design of the bottom mirror combines the conventional dielectric distributed Bragg reflector structure with a fabrication procedure using nano-scale epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO). Hence, this ELO mirror structure can provide both a high reflectivity, to form an optical resonance cavity, and a virtual InP substrate for the growth of high quality active regions in the VCSEL. The dependence of the reflectivity on the epitaxial lateral overgrowth mirror structure parameters is analyzed in detail using numerical methods. The results demonstrate that a stopband at more than 99% reflectivity is achieved in the wavelength range from 1.49 to 2.09 µm, and the threshold optical gain can be as low as 202, 257, and 311 cm−1 for the internal loss coefficients of 10, 15 and 20 cm−1.

A precision fiber Bragg grating interrogation system using long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

This paper presents the development of a cost-effective precision fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation system using long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Tuning properties of a long-wavelength VCSEL have been studied experimentally. An approximately quadratic dependence of its wavelength on the injection current has been observed. The overall design and key operations of this system including intensity normalization, peak detection, and quadratic curve fitting are introduced in detail. The results show that the system achieves an accuracy of 1.2 pm with a tuning range of 3 nm and a tuning rate of 1 kHz. It is demonstrated that this system is practical and effective by applied in the FBG transformer temperature monitoring.

Interrogation of fiber-Bragg-grating temperature and strain sensors with a temperature-stabilized VCSEL

The interrogation of fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors using a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is discussed. A long-wavelength (1.54 μm) VCSEL was used as a wavelength-tunable source by variation in the current. Temperature stabilization was performed with a thermoelectric device. Characteristics of temperature and strain sensing were investigated. FBGs with different reflectivities were compared. For temperature sensing, the root-mean-square error in the measurement was reduced to 1/3 that without temperature stabilization. The dependence of the measurement error on the reflectivities of the FBGs was investigated. The measurement error was larger for FBGs with lower reflectivities in both temperature and strain sensing. Improvement on the sensing with low-reflectivity FBGs is discussed.

Polarization switching and injection locking in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers subject to parallel optical injection

Polarization switching in a long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) under parallel optical injection is analyzed in a theoretical and experimental way. For the first time, to our knowledge, we report experimentally a state in which injection locking of the parallel polarization and excitation of the free-running orthogonal polarization of the VCSEL are simultaneously obtained. We obtain very simple analytical expressions that describe both linear polarizations. We show that the power of both linear polarizations depend linearly on the injected power in such a way that the total power emitted by the VCSEL is constant. We perform a linear stability analysis of this solution to characterize the region of parameters in which it can be observed. Our measurements qualitatively confirm the previous theoretical predictions.

Polarization switching with low power consumption induced by optical feedback in long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The polarization switching (PS) characteristics of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers(VCSELs) have received sustained attention for the past years. With the development of manufacturing technology, the performances of 1550 nm VCSELs have been improved, however the researches on the PS of 1550 nm VCSELs are relatively inadequate for the PS characteristics in the long-wavelength VCSELs may have wide application prospects in optical information processing and optical communications. In this paper, based on the extended spin-flip model (SFM), we theoretically investigate the PS with low power consumption induced by optical feedback in long-wavelength VCSELs. Results show that the PS, which is failed to realize in free-running long-wavelength VCSELs, can be achieved by introducing a moderate-strength polarization-rotation optical feedback. By comparing two different linear dispersion effects, some interesting phenomena have been found. For weak linear dispersion, the PS is relatively easy to realize for a low injection current level, and the range of feedback strength used to control the PS is wide. However, for strong dispersion effect, the PS cannot be obtained all the time since two mode-coexisting zones will appear, and the value of injection current where the PS happens is relatively high. Meanwhile, as observed in short-wavelength VCSELs, the polarization mode hopping and multiple PS have also been found in long-wavelength VCSELs, indicating that the physics nature thet induces the PS is similar for both long and short wavelength VCSELs. In addition, because the PS in long-wavelength VCSEL is more difficult to realize as compared with that in short-wavelength VCSELs, reasonable analyses and explanations may be as follows: since the linear dispersion effect in 1550 nm-VCSEL is much stronger than that of short wavelength VCSEL, the frequency difference between the two linear polarization modes is up to 60 GHz (or 0.48 nm), thus leading to the decrease of the correlation between two linear polarization modes. As a result, it is relatively difficult to obtain the PS phenomenon at low injection current level in long-wavelength VCSEL; while using suitable polarization-rotated optical feedback can partially compensate the deficiency of this correlation. We believe that the results obtained in this work will be helpful in investigation of low power consumption for all optical buffers by using long-wavelength VCSELs.

Design concepts of monolithic metamorphic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for the 1300–1550 nm spectral range

Possible design concepts for long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for the 1300–1550 nm spectral range on GaAs substrates are suggested. It is shown that a metamorphic GaAs–InGaAs heterostructure with a thin buffer layer providing rapid transition from the lattice constant of GaAs to that of InxGa1–xAs with an indium fraction of x < 0.3 can be formed by molecular-beam epitaxy. Analysis by transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the effective localization of mismatch dislocations in the thin buffer layer and full suppression of their penetration into the overlying InGaAs metamorphic layer.

Directly PAM-4 Modulated 1530-nm VCSEL Enabling 56 Gb/s/&lt;inline-formula&gt; &lt;tex-math notation="LaTeX"&gt;$\lambda $ &lt;/tex-math&gt;&lt;/inline-formula&gt; Data-Center Interconnects

We demonstrate a 56 Gb/s four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) transmission using direct detection and a long-wavelength 18-GHz bandwidth vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser as directly modulated light source for short-reach inter- and intra-connects in datacenters and short-reach networks. Error-free transmission over 2 km at 7% hard-decision forward-error correction threshold is achieved by applying powerful equalization schemes at the receiver side. Three equalization schemes, i.e., a maximum likelihood estimation (MLSE), a feed-forward equalizer (FFE), and a combination of the FFE and the MLSE are thoroughly investigated, and the performance comparison between them is carried out.

Hybrid vertical‐cavity laser with lateral emission into a silicon waveguide

We experimentally demonstrate an optically-pumped III-V/Si vertical-cavity laser with lateral emission into a silicon waveguide. This on-chip hybrid laser comprises a distributed Bragg reflector, a III-V active layer, and a high-contrast grating reflector, which simultaneously funnels light into the waveguide integrated with the laser. This laser has the advantages of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, such as low threshold and high side-mode suppression ratio, while allowing integration with silicon photonic circuits, and is fabricated using CMOS compatible processes. It has the potential for ultrahigh-speed operation beyond 100 Gbit/s and features a novel mechanism for transverse mode control.

40 Gb/s PAM-4 Transmitter IC for Long-Wavelength VCSEL Links

Conventional 850 nm multimode fiber links deployed in warehouse-scale data centers will be limited by modal dispersion beyond 10 Gb/s when covering distances up to 1 km. This can be resolved by opting for a single-mode fiber (SMF), but typically requires the use of power-hungry edge-emitting lasers. We investigate the feasibility of a high-efficiency SMF link by reporting a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS laser diode driver optimized for long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Bit-error rate experiments at 28 and 40 Gb/s up to 1 km of SMF reveal that four-level pulse amplitude modulation can compete with non-return-to-zero in terms of energy efficiency and scalability. With 9.4 pJ/b, the presented transmitter paves the way for VCSEL-based SMF links in data centers.