Polarization locking of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers using amorphous Si subwavelength transmission gratings

Summary form only given. The output light of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) can exist in two linearly polarized modes along the (011) and the (011) crystal directions. Under normal operation, one of the modes will dominate over the other and, depending on the injection current, switching between the two modes can occur. In this paper we report the first demonstration of locking the polarization of VCSELs by putting a ultrathin amorphous silicon subwavelength transmission grating in front of the output window of a VCSEL.