High-speed vertical-cavity surface emitting laser

Planar, gain-guided vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a modulation bandwidth of 14 GHz are described. This bandwidth is reached at a drive current of only 8 mA. The intrinsic bandwidth of these devices is estimated to be greater than 50 GHz. Nonlinear light-current characteristics of these lasers may lead to a high level of nonlinear harmonic distortion of the high-frequency output. It is shown that the relative intensity of the second-harmonic response decreases rapidly at higher drive currents, in agreement with a phenomenological model based on the DC characteristics of the laser.<
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