Giant wavelength-temperature dependence of 850nm VCSELs with a metal/semiconductor thermally actuated mirror

We demonstrate a giant wavelength-temperature dependence of wavelength of a micromachined 850nm VCSEL with a thermally actuated metal/semiconductor cantilever mirror. The modeling shows a possibility of giant temperature dependence of wavelength of several nm/K, which is determined by cantilever length and metal thickness. The fabricated 850nm VCSEL exhibits a temperature dependence of -1.6 nm/K, and a wavelength tuning of 35 nm in 850 nm band was obtained by changing the device temperature by 12K. In addition, electro-thermal tuning was demonstrated using integrated micro heater. Continuous wavelength shift of 15 nm was obtained with heating power of 40 mW.