High-speed wavelength division multiplexing and demultiplexing using monolithic quasi-planar VCSEL and resonant photodetector arrays with strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells

Monolithic arrays of multiple wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL's) and resonance-enhanced photodetectors (REPD's) with matching wavelengths are useful for fiber-based wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) optical interconnects, which achieve optical parallelism using a single fiber instead of a multiple fiber array. Multiple wavelength channels can be optically multiplexed together and transmitted through a single fiber, and then fanned out (broadcast) to different nodes, where they are demultiplexed (selected) using REPDs with different wavelength selectivity.