Deep-red continuous wave top-surface-emitting vertical-cavity AlGaAs superlattice lasers

Deep-red (770-nm) top-surface-emitting vertical-cavity AlGaAs lasers were fabricated and operated continuously at room temperature. An Al/sub 0.14/Ga/sub 0.86/As superlattice was used for an active-gain medium. Efficient current funneling was achieved by deep proton implantation. Continuous-wave (CW) threshold currents were 4.6 and 6.3 mA at 3.9- and 3.4-V bias for 10- and 15- mu m-diameter lasers, respectively. The maximum CW output power was >1.1 mW at room temperature without heat sink. Arrays of various top-surface-emitting lasers based on current funneling are expected to generate many applications for photonic switching, chip-to-chip communication, optical computing, and printing.< >