Low-temperature (10-300 K) characterization of MOVPE-grown vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Experimental results from the low-temperature characterization of AlGaAs-based, MOVPE-grown VCSEL's are reported. Evaluations focus on 830-nm (300 K) wavelength devices, showing continuous lasing over the entire 300-10 K measurement range with threshold currents from 3.6 mA (300 K) to 10.7 mA (10 K), and an /spl ap/0.6 /spl Aring///spl deg/C wavelength shift. Gain-resonance alignment for 830-nm devices occurred between 200-225 K with 1.6 mA minimum threshold current at 1.6 V. 817-nm VCSEL's with 4.5 mA threshold at 300 K achieved submilliamp (0.8 mA) minimum threshold current near 125 K, representing a record low threshold current density of 250 A/cm/sup 2/.< >