Polarization control and mode optimization of 850 nm multi-mode VCSELs using surface grating

To control the polarization of 850 nm multi-mode oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), monolithically integrated surface gratings are investigated. VCSELs with different grating parameters are simulated by the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method. Optical field intensity of two polarization orientations with different grating periods and duty cycles is obtained. The mode characteristics of VCSELs with different grating parameters are achieved by FDTD method. 850 nm surface grating VCSELs are fabricated and characterized, a maximum orthogonal polarization suppression ratio (OPSR) of 20.7 dB is observed. Meanwhile, VCSEL’s output mode characteristics are improved by integrating the surface grating. Application of integrated surface grating technique to achieve dynamically polarization-stable multi-mode VCSELs which enable polarization division multiplexed data transmission, the data throughput over a given link can be doubled.