High-performance 1.06-μm selectively oxidized vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with InGaAs-GaAsP strain-compensated quantum wells

We present the first room-temperature continuous-wave operation of high-performance 1.06-μm selectively oxidized vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's). The lasers contain strain-compensated InGaAs-GaAsP quantum wells (QW's) in the active region grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The threshold current is 190 μA for a 2.5×2.5 μm
²
device, and the threshold voltage is as low as 1.255 V for a 6×6 μm
²
device. Lasing at a wavelength as long as 1.1 μm was also achieved. We discuss the wavelength limit for lasers using the strain-compensated QW's on GaAs substrates.