Effect of Multi-Oxide-Layer Structures on the Optoelectronic Performance of Anti-Reflective Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

doi:10.16553/j.cnki.issn1000-985x.2025.0257

Abstract

Abstract: Introducing multi-oxide layers into the structure of an anti-reflective vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser （VCSEL） simultaneously increased the output power and the side-mode suppression ratio （SMSR）. The n-type oxide layer， in particular， led to a substantial enhancement in both parameters. Contrary to the prediction of the standard core/cladding model， the SMSR increased alongside the effective refractive index difference between the core and cladding layers after the multi-oxide-layer introduction. This apparent contradiction is attributed to two mechanisms. First， in anti-reflective VCSELs， the anti-resonant mirror and optical reservoir significantly extend the cavity length， making diffraction loss for high-order transverse modes the primary factor governing the SMSR， rather than the core/cladding model. Second， the n-type oxide layer， located between the active region and the optical reservoir， spatially filters the oscillating beam by blocking a portion of the high-order modes， thereby suppressing their mode competition and improving the SMSR. This approach significantly improves the single-transverse-mode characteristics. To overcome the output power limitation of small oxide apertures， we implemented this multi-oxide-layer design in an anti-reflective VCSEL with a large 6 μm aperture. At an ambient temperature of 80 ℃ and an operating current of 5 mA， the triple oxide layer AR structure achieves an increase of 50.91% in output power and an improvement of 40.32% in SMSR compared to the single oxide layer AR structure.

Key words: vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; multi-oxide-layer structure; anti-reflection structure; high-power; single-mode; large oxide aperture

CLC Number:

TN248.4

CHEN Xiaodong, JIA Zhigang, ZHAI Guangmei, CUI Ziqi, DONG Hailiang, JIA Wei, XU Bingshe. Effect of Multi-Oxide-Layer Structures on the Optoelectronic Performance of Anti-Reflective Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers[J]. Journal of Synthetic Crystals, 2026, 55(5): 706-714.

Figures/Tables 9

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of single-oxide-confined anti-reflection 795 nm VCSEL structure and waveguide （a）， and comparison of five anti-reflection structures （b）

Table 1 Comparison of the five designed anti-reflection VCSEL structures

Structure	Type	Oxide layer	Position of the oxide layer （Position：p/n）
p1	Single oxide confinement	1	p： top （1st）
p12	Double oxide confinement	2	p： top （1st， 2nd）
p1n1	Double oxide confinement	2	p： top （1st）， n： bottom （1st）
p12n1	Triple oxide confinement	3	p： top （1st， 2nd）， n： bottom （1st）
p13n1	Triple oxide confinement	3	p： top （1st， 3rd）， n： bottom （1st）

Fig.2 Refractive index distribution of p1 standing waves for traditional structure （a） and single-oxide-layer anti-reflective structure （b）

Fig.3 Power-current-voltage （P-I-V） curves for different structures at 80 ℃ and 5 mA

Table 2 Threshold current， output power （at 5 mA）， and slope efficiency for different structures

Structure	I_th/mA	P/mW@5 mA	Slope efficiency/（W·A^-1）
Traditional structure	0.76	3.64	0.87
p1	1.34	4.38	1.19
p12	1.07	6.28	1.60
p1n1	0.99	6.27	1.56
p12n1	0.96	6.57	1.63
p13n1	0.99	6.61	1.64

Fig.4 Radial distribution of current density for the first quantum well， the second quantum well， and the third quantum well near the n-side active region

Fig.5 Stimulated recombination rate （a） and nonradiative recombination rate （b）（SRH recombination and Auger recombination） within three quantum wells in different structures

Fig.6 SMSR for different structures

Fig.7 Lasing spectra of different structures

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