Simple Thermal Model for Vertical-Cavity, Surface-Emitting Lasers

A simple, multi-mode, rate equation based thermal model has been developed for vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers. The misalignment between cavity supported modes and the material gain peak is considered to be the primary cause of the higher order transverse modes and power rolloff observed in these devices. Experiments are performed on a Mode 8085-2008 VCSEL to determine its modal composition over a range of currents and temperatures. The rate equation model was fitted to these modally resolved light current curves with good success