Abstract

We have analyzed the effect of the photon energy and temperature dependence of both the gain and the total losses inside the cavity to understand the polarization behavior of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The assumption that the losses are dominated by free-carrier absorption in the p-doped mirror is made. Developing a new theoretical approach, we are able to predict different polarization switching regimes in which switching occurs from the high- to the low-frequency mode, from the low- to the high-frequency mode, or both consecutively. All these predictions have been experimentally verified by our measurements on GaAs/AlGaAs proton-implanted vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

Mechanisms of polarization switching in single-transverse-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers:?thermal shift and nonlinear semiconductor dynamics

S. Balle, E. Tolkachova, M. San Miguel, J. R. Tredicce, J. Martín-Regalado, and A. Gahl
Opt. Lett. 24(16) 1121-1123 (1999)

Quantum noise in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with polarization competition

Gian Paolo Bava, Laura Fratta, and Pierluigi Debernardi
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(11) 2147-2157 (1999)

Polarization noise in elliptically polarized vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

R. F. M. Hendriks, M. P. van Exter, J. P. Woerdman, L. Weegels, and A. Van Geelen
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(5) 832-834 (1999)

High-frequency beam steering in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers: optical gain and waveguiding effects

A. Valle, P. Rees, L. Pesquera, and K. A. Shore
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(11) 2045-2054 (1999)

Polarization dynamics in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with optical feedback: experiment and model

M. Giudici, S. Balle, T. Ackemann, S. Barland, and J. R. Tredicce
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(11) 2114-2123 (1999)