Grating-outcoupled surface-emitting semiconductor lasers at 1310 and 1550 nm

Demonstration of a concept for a single-frequency, grating-outcoupled surface-emitting semiconductor laser (GSE) is reported at wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm with output powers of 2 mW. First-order distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) gratings are used for feedback and a second-order grating provides surface emission. The device has a 6/spl times/10 /spl mu/m outcoupling aperture that approximately matches the spot size of a single mode fiber. This architecture allows probe-testing at the wafer level similar to vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL). These initial GSE lasers have demonstrated pulsed threshold currents of 47 mA at 1289 nm and 60 mA at 1550 nm with /spl sim/20 dB side-mode suppression ratios (SMSR).