Proton implanted VCSEL's for 3 Gb/s data links

Transverse single-mode and multimode intensity modulated butt-coupled InGaAs vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL)s are investigated as a light source for optical fiber communication systems. Data transmission at 3 Gb/s with a bit error rate (BER) of less than 10/sup -11/ is reported for both 4.3 km of standard fiber, as well as 0.5 km of multimode graded-index fiber, 10-μm active diameter single-mode VCSELs are shown to have lower mode competition noise requiring 3 dB and 6 dB less power at the front end receiver at a BER of 10/sup -11/ compared to 19-μm and 50-μm active diameter devices, respectively. In data transmission with multimode VCSELs, the dispersion penalty is lower than for single-mode sources since the noise at the receiver is mainly determined by transmitter-mode competition noise.