High-reflectance dielectric mirrors deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on GaAs-AlGaAs semiconductor lasers with inductively coupled plasma etched facets

High-reflectance dielectric mirrors (HRDMs) have been deposited on the etched facets of edge-emitting semiconductor ridge lasers. Dry etching using an inductively coupled plasma system formed the laser facets. The HRDMs were deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Lasers with cavity lengths of 200 and 128 μm have been tested before and after deposition of the HRDMs with a reduction in threshold of 50% and 61%, respectively. Lasing has been demonstrated in devices with cavity lengths as small as 32 μm after the addition of the HRDMs.