Single-mode operation from an external cavity controlled vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

Single-mode operation from an index-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) has been achieved by using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) as an external selective wavelength reflector. The spectral characteristics of the external cavity controlled VCSEL under static and dynamic conditions have been studied. The FBG provided stable single mode operation under pseudorandom modulation with a sidemode suppression ratio of /spl sim/30 dB from 500 Mb/s up to 4 Gb/s at room temperature.