InAs/InP 1.5 um quantum dot/dash VCSELs for optical/wireless access networks

InP量子阱（QW）垂直腔面发射激光器（VCSEL）发射波长为1.5 μ m，与传统的边缘发射激光器相比，具有体积小、可实现晶圆级测试、功耗低、成本低等优点，极大地促进了其在光接入网中的应用。 量子点/破折号（QD）与量子阱（QW）相对应，将载流子约束的维度从2维降到0/1维，形成分立的能级结构，从而改善了阈值电流和输出功率的温度依赖性，降低了阈值电流密度，提高了材料增益，提高了微分增益，减小了量子点激光器的线宽增强因子。InP量子点与垂直腔相结合，即InP量子点VCSEL，将导致更好的性能，除了低成本。事实上，到目前为止报道了一项研究工作，并且表明InP QD VCSEL确实具有低得多的阈值电流，即较低的功耗。 FONEX是光接入网络的光收发器供应商，其中使用了InP QW VCSEL。简单地说，FONEX开发的1.5um发射的InP QD VCSEL是为了提高性能和降低成本。 Concordia的张博士与渥太华的NRC合作，研究InP QD边发射激光器已有十年。本项目将启动InAs/InP QD VCSEL的研究，从简单到高性能结构将考虑三个步骤：多模InP QD VCSEL，单模InP QD VCSEL和波长可调谐InP QD VCSEL。 这项研究是对目前NRC和Concordia研究工作的补充，有利于FONEX和加拿大创新低成本和高性能激光技术。

Recent advance in InP quantum well (QW) vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) emitting at 1.5 um has promoted its applications for optical access networks, thanks to their advantages of smaller footprint, wafer-scale testing, lower power consumption and in particular much lower cost compared with conventional edge-emitting counterparts. Corresponding to QW, quantum dot/dash (QD) introduces a reduction of dimensionality of the carrier confinement from 2-D to 0/1-D, resulting in the formation of a discrete energy level structure, thus QDs would induce improvements in temperature dependence of threshold current and output power, lower threshold current density and increased material gain, high differential gain, and small linewidth enhancement factor for QD lasers. InP QD combined with vertical cavity, i.e. InP QD VCSEL, would lead to better performances in addition to low cost. Indeed, one research work was reported so far, and it was shown that InP QD VCSEL does have a much lower threshold current, i.e. lower power consumption. FONEX is a supplier of optical transceivers for optical access networks, in which InP QW VCSELs are being used. Straightforwardly, development of InP QD VCSELs emitting at 1.5um by FONEX is desired for performance improvement and lower cost. Dr. Zhang at Concordia has researched InP QD edge-emitting lasers for a decade, collaborating with NRC in Ottawa. This project will kick off research of InAs/InP QD VCSELs, and three steps will be considered from simple to high-performance structure: multimode InP QD VCSEL, single-mode InP QD VCSEL, and wavelength-tunable InP QD VCSEL. This research is complementary to current NRC and Concordia research works, and benefits to FONEX and Canada in innovated low-cost and high-performance laser technology.