High-performance oxide-confined GaAs VCSELs

We present GaAs based selectively oxidized VCSELs with record high 57% wallplug efficiencies emitting in the 820-860-nm wavelength regime. Solid source molecular beam epitaxy with carbon as p-type dopant is used for crystal growth. Multimode devices show continuous-wave (CW) output powers up to 42 mW and stable operation from -80/spl deg/C up to +185/spl deg/C. Efficient single-mode output power of some milliwatts is maximized by controlling optical waveguiding that depends on the position of the 30-nm thin oxide aperture. Elliptically shaped current apertures are applied to stabilize output polarization.