Blue GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers by CW current injection at 77K

Abstract

In the paper, we describe the fabrication and performance characteristics of GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) by optical pumping and current injection. According to the employment of high-quality and high-reflectivity AlN/GaN DBRs in the whole structure, the lasing action of optically pumped GaN-based VCSELs with hybrid mirrors has been observed at room temperature. Due to the excellent results of optically pumped GaN-based VCSELs with hybrid mirrors, we further demonstrated the lasing behavior of GaN-based VCSELs by continuous-wave current injection at 77 K. The laser has one dominated blue wavelength located at 462 nm with a linewidth of about 0.15 nm and the threshold injection current at 1.4 mA. The divergence angle and polarization ratio of the GaN-based VCSELs with hybrid mirrors are about 11.7 degrees and 80 %, respectively. A larger spontaneous coupling efficiency of about 7.5x10(-2) was also measured.