Simulation and fabrication of thermo-optic variable optical attenuators based on multimode interference coupler

A type of thermo-optic variable optical attenuator based on multimode interference coupler is proposed. The optical field propagation properties of the devices are simulated using finite difference beam propagation method. The propagation loss of the fabricated device is 2-4.2 dB at the wavelength range 1510-1610 nm. The total power consumption is 370 mW and the maximum attenuation is more than 25 dB, which almost can meet the requirements of optical fiber communication systems.

Scattering-parameter measurements of laser diodes

An accurate and simple technique for measuring the input reflection coefficient and the frequency response of semiconductor laser diode chips is proposed and demonstrated. All the packaging parasitics could be obtained accurately using a calibrated probe, and the impedance of the intrinsic diode chip is deduced from the directly measured reflection coefficient. The directly measured impedance of a laser diode is affected strongly by the short bond wire. In the frequency response (S(2)1) measurements of semiconductor laser diode chips, the test fixture consists of a microwave probe, a submount, and a bond wire. The S-parameters of the probe could be determined using the short-open-match (SOM) method. Both the attenuation and the reflection of the test fixture have a strong influence on the directly measured frequency response, and in our proposed technique, the effect of test fixture is completely removed.

Optical and electrical characterizations of ZnSe self-organized quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Optical and electrical properties of ZnSe self-organized quantum dots were investigated using photoluminescence, capacitance-voltage, and deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy techniques. The temperature dependence of photoluminescence was employed to clarify the mechanism of photoluminescence thermal quenching processes in ZnSe quantum dots. A theoretic fit on considering a two-step quenching processes well explained the experimental data. The apparent carrier concentration profile obtained from capacitance-voltage measurements exhibits an accumulation peak at the depth of about 100nm below the sample surface, which is in good agreement with the location of the quantum dot layer. The electronic ground state of ZnSe quantum dots is determined to be about 0.11 eV below the conduction band of ZnS, which is similar to that obtained by simulating the thermal quenching of ZnSe photoluminescence.

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on electron emission and DX centers in strained InGaAs/GaAs single quantum well laser diodes

Thermal processing of strained In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs graded-index separate confinement heterostructure single quantum well laser diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy is investigated. It is found that rapid thermal annealing can improve the 77K photoluminescence efficiency and electron emission from the active layer, due to the removal of nonradiative centers from the InGaAs/GaAs interface. Because of the interdiffusion of Al and Ga atoms, rapid thermal annealing increases simultaneously the density of DX centers in the AlGaAs graded layer. The current stressing experiments of postgrowth and annealed laser diodes are indicative of a corresponding increase in the concentration of DX centers, suggesting that DX centers may be responsible for the degradation of laser diode performance.

Influence of combined InAlAs and InGaAs strain-reducing laser on luminescence properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have fabricated self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) capped by 1 nm In0.2Al0.8As and 5 nm In0.2Ga0.8As strain-reducing layer (SRL). The luminescence emission at a long wavelength of 1.33 mum with narrower half width is realized. A wider energy separation between the ground and first excited radiative transitions of up to 102meV was observed at room temperature. Furthermore, the comparative study proves that luminescence properties of InAs/GaAs QDs overgrown with combined InAlAs and InGaAs SRLs are much better than that of one capped with InGaAs or InAlAs SRL. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth and characterization of GaInNAs/GaAs by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

We have studied the growth of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) by molecular beam epitaxy using a DC plasma as the N sourer. The N concentration was independent of the As pressure and the In concentration, but inversely proportional to the growth rate. It was almost independent of T, over the range of 400-500 degreesC, but dropped rapidly when T-g exceeded 500 degreesC. Thermally-activated N surface segregation is considered to account for the strong falloff of the N concentration. As increasing N concentration, the steep absorption edge of the photovoltage spectra of GaInNAs/GaAs QW became gentle, the full-width at half-maximum of the photoluminescence (PL) peal; increased rapidly, and a so-called S-shaped temperature dependence of PL peak energy showed up. All these were attributed to the increasing localized state as N concentration. Ion-induced damage was one of the origins of the localized state. A rapid thermal annealing procedure could effectively remote the localized state. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science D.V. All rights reserved.

High-temperature characteristics of GaInNAs/GaAs single-quantum-well lasers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

GaInNAs/GaAs single-quantum-well (SQW) lasers have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. N is introduced by a home-made de-active plasma source. Incorporation of N into InGaAs decreases the bandgap significantly. The highest N concentration of 2.6% in a GaInNAs/GaAs QW is obtained, corresponding to the photoluminescence (PL) peak wavelength of 1.57 mum at 10 K. The PL peak intensity decreases rapidly and the PL full width at half maximum increases with the increasing N concentrations. Rapid thermal annealing at 850 degrees C could significantly improve the crystal quality of the QWs. An optimum annealing time of 5s at 850 degrees C was obtained. The GalnNAs/GaAs SQW laser emitting at 1.2 mum exhibits a high characteristic temperature of 115 K in the temperature range of 20 degrees C- 75 degrees C.

Substrate dependence of InGaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

A systematic study of self-organized In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs) and islands grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100) and (n11) A/B GaAs substrates is given, where n varies from 1 to 5. Low-temperature photoluminescence results show that the properties of the dots have a strong dependence on the substrate orientation as revealed by atomic force microscopy, consistent with the differences in size, shape, and distribution of QDs on different substrates. From (100) to (111) surface, the photoluminescence peak position of dots on B surfaces is found to blueshift more than that on A surfaces. QDs are also formed on (511) A surface. The positional distribution of these dots exhibits a wavy shape, which is related to the corrugated structure of this surface. Two kinds of islands are formed on (111) A surface, but further work is needed to explain the mechanism of these islands. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.

Design consideration and performance of high-power and high-brightness InGaAs-InGaAsP-AlGaAs quantum-well diode lasers (lambda=0.98 mu m)

In this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of the design, fabrication, and performance measurement of high-power and high-brightness strained quantum-well lasers emitting at 0.98 mum, The material system of interest consists of an Al-free InGaAs-InGaAsP active region and AlGaAs cladding layers. Some key parameters of the laser structure are theoretically analyzed, and their effects on the laser performance are discussed. The laser material is grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and demonstrates high quality with low-threshold current density, high internal quantum efficiency, and extremely low internal loss. High-performance broad-area multimode and ridge-waveguide single-mode laser devices are fabricated. For 100-mum-wide stripe lasers having a cavity length of 800 mum, a high slope efficiency of 1.08 W-A, a low vertical beam divergence of 34 degrees, a high output power of over 4.45 W, and a very high characteristic temperature coefficient of 250 K were achieved. Lifetime tests performed at 1.2-1.3 W (12-13 mW/mum) demonstrates reliable performance. For 4-mum-wide ridge waveguide single-mode laser devices, a maximum output power of 394 mW and fundamental mode power up to 200 mW with slope efficiency of 0.91 mW/mum are obtained.

Self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots and quantum dot laser

Systematic study of molecular beam epitaxy-grown self-assembled In(Ga)As/GaAs, In-AlAs/AlGaAs/GaAs, and InAs/InAlAs/InP quantum dots (QDs) is demonstrated. By adjusting growth conditions, surprising alignment, preferential elongation, and pronounced sequential coalescence of dots under the specific condition are realized. Room-temperature (RT) continuous-wave (CW) lasing at the wavelength of 960 nm with output power of 1 W is achieved from vertical coupled InAs/GaAs QDs ensemble. The RT threshold current density is 218 A/cm(2). An RT CW output power of 0.53 W ensures at least 3 000 h lasing (only drops 0.83 db). This is one of the best results ever reported.

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

We have studied the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy using a dc plasma as the N source. It was found that RTA at low temperature (LT, 650 degrees C) and high temperature (HT, 900 degrees C) could both improve the QW quality significantly. To clarify the mechanism of quality improvement by RTA, a magnetic field perpendicular to the path of the N plasma flux was applied during the growth of the GaInNAs layers for the sake of comparison. It was found that LT-RTA mainly removed dislocations at interfaces related to the ion bombardment, whereas, HT-RTA further removed dislocations originating from the growth. LT-RTA caused only a slight blueshift of photoluminescence peak wavelength, probably due to defect-assisted interdiffusion of In-Ga at the QW interfaces. The blueshift caused by HT-RTA, on the other hand, was much larger. It is suggested that this is due to the fast defect-assisted diffusion of N-As at the QW interfaces. As defects are removed by annealing, the diffusion of In-Ga at interfaces would be predominant. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)01535-7].

Kinetic modeling of N incorporation in GaInNAs growth by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

We have studied the growth of GaInNAs by a plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). It was found that the N-radicals were incorporated into the epitaxial layer like dopant atoms. In the range of 400-500 degrees C, the growth temperature (T-g) mainly affected the crystal quality of GaInNAs rather than the N concentration. The N concentration dropped rapidly when T-g exceeded 500 degrees C. Considering N desorption alone is insufficient to account for the strong falloff of the N concentration with T-g over 500 degrees C, the effect of thermally-activated N surface segregation must be taken into account. The N concentration was independent of the arsenic pressure and the In concentration in GaInNAs layers, but inversely proportional to the growth rate. Based on the experimental results, a kinetic model including N desorption and surface segregation was developed to analyze quantitatively the N incorporation in MBE growth. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00928-1].

Annealing effect on the surface morphology and photoluminescence of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Postgrowth rapid thermal annealing was performed on InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The blue shift of the emission peak and the narrowing of the luminescence line width are observed at lower annealing temperature. However, when the annealing temperature is increased to 850 degrees C, the emission line width becomes larger. The TEM image of this sample shows that the surface becomes rough, and some large clusters are formed, which is due to the interdiffusion of In, Ga atoms at the InGaAs/GaAs interface and to the strain relaxation. The material is found to degrade dramatically when the annealing temperature is further increased to 900 degrees C, while emission from quantum dots can still be detected, along with the appearance of the emission from excited state. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-aligned current aperture in native oxidized AlInAs buried heterostructure InGaAsP/InP distributed feedback laser

A InGaAsP/InP self-aligned, native oxidized buried heterostructure (BH) distributed feedback (DFB) laser is proposed. It is as easy to process as the ridge waveguide DFB laser and has superior performance. The current aperture can be easily controlled without selective regrowth. The laser exhibits a low threshold of 5.0 mA with 36 dB side mode suppression ratio at the emission wavelength of 1.562 mu m. It emits in a single lobe with full width at half maximum angles of 33.6 degrees and 42.6 degrees for the lateral and vertical fields, respectively. Its beam is more circular than that of the as-grown BH laser because the lower refractive index of oxide compared to the as-grown layer and results in a larger lateral optical confinement. Its characteristic temperature (T-0) is 50 K at room temperature but increases in value at the higher temperature range. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00812-3].

Pulsed excimer laser annealing of Mg-doped cubic GaN

A KrF (248 nm) excimer laser with a 38 ns pulse width was used to study pulsed laser annealing (PLA) on Mg-doped cubic GaN alms. The laser-induced changes were monitored by photoluminescence (PL) measurement. It indicated that deep levels in as-grown cubic GaN : Mg films were neutralized by H and PLA treatment could break Mg-H-N complex. The evolution of emissions around 426 and 468 nm with different PLA conditions reflected the different activation of the involved deep levels. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in N-2 atmosphere reverts the luminescence of laser annealed samples to that of the pre-annealing state. The reason is that most H atoms still remained in the epilayers after PLA due to the short duration of the pulses and reoccupied the original locations during RTA. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 61.72.Vv; 61.72.Cc; 18.55. -m.