Improved performance of selectively oxidized visible VCSELs

The recent development of infra-red selectively oxidized vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) has been enabled through improvement of the oxide aperture design within the laser cavity. VCSEL designs using thin oxide apertures offset a few periods away from the optical cavity have been demonstrated to reduce optical confinement and loss. 650 nm and shorter wavelengths are important for optical scanning applications and low cost optical interconnects based on plastic optical fiber (POF). For example POF has minimum attenuation at 650 nm, indicating that visible VCSELs are appropriate for the development of gigabit/sec low cost optical data links. We report the improved performance of selectively oxidized visible VCSELs which employ a single thin offset oxide aperture.