ZnO thin films on Si(111) grown by pulsed laser deposition from metallic Zn target

ZnO thin films with highly c-axis orientation have been fabricated on p-type Si(1 1 1) substrates at 400 degrees C by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a metallic Zn target with oxygen pressures between 0.1 and 0.7 mbar. Experimental results indicate that the films deposited at 0.3 and 0.5 mbar have better crystalline and optical quality and flatter surfaces than the films prepared at other pressures. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of (0 0 0 2) diffraction peak decreases remarkably from 0.46 to 0.19 degrees with increasing annealing temperature for the film prepared at 0.3 mbar. In photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room temperature, the annealed film at 700 degrees C exhibits a smaller ultraviolet (UV) peak FWHM of 108 meV than the as-grown film (119 meV). However, an enhanced deep-level emission is observed. Possible origins to above results are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of InGaN multiple quantum well blue-violet laser diodes

Studies on InGaN multiple quantum well blue-violet laser diodes have been reported. Laser structures with long-period multiple quantum wells were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Triple-axis X-ray diffraction (TAXRD) measurements show that the multiple quantum wells were high quality. Ridge waveguide laser diodes were fabricated with cleaved facet mirrors. The laser diodes lase at room temperature under a pulsed current. A threshold current density of 3.3 kA/cm(2) and a characteristic temperature To of 145 K were observed for the laser diode.

Thermal lensing effect in ridge structure InGaN multiple quantum well laser diodes

Time-resolved light-current curves, spectra, and far-field distributions of ridge structure InGaN multiple quantum well laser diodes grown on sapphire substrate are measured with a temporal resolution of 0.1 ns under a pulsed current condition. Results show that the thermal lensing effect clearly improves the confinement of the higher order modes. The thermal lens leads to a lower threshold current for the higher order modes, a higher slope efficiency, and a change in the lasing mode of the device. The threshold current for the higher modes decreases by about 5 mA in every 10 ns in a pulse, and the slope efficiency increases by 7.5 times on the average when higher modes lase. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of GaAsP insertion layers on performance of InGaAsP/InGaP/AlGaAs quantum-well laser

We report on the use of very thin GaAsP insertion layers to improve the performance of an InGaAsP/InGaP/AlGaAs single quantum-well laser structure grown by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. Compared to the non-insertion structure, the full width at half maximum of photoluminescence spectrum of the insertion structure measured at room temperature is decreased from 47 to 38 nm indicating sharper interfaces. X-ray diffraction shows that the GaAsP insertion layers between AlGaAs and InGaP compensates for the compressive strain to improve the total interface. The laser performance of the insertion structure is significantly improved as compared with the counterpart without the insertion layers. The threshold current is decreased from 560 to 450mA while the slope efficiency is increased from 0.61 to 0.7W/A and the output power is increased from 370 to 940mW. The slope efficiency improved is very high for the devices without coated facets. The improved laser performance is attributed to the suppression of indium carry-over due to the use of the GaAsP insertion layers.

Dipole mode photonic crystal point defect laser on InGaAsP/InP

In this paper, we focus on the dipole mode of the two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) single point defect cavity (SPDC) lasers and we report the fabrication and characterization of 2D PC SPDC lasers with the structure of adjusted innermost air holes. The photonic band and cavity Q factors are simulated by means of plane wave expansion (PWE) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD), respectively. In order to improve the optical confinement of the SPDC, the diameter of the innermost holes was adjusted. Different lasing performances are observed experimentally. The experimental results agree with the theoretical prediction very well. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of InAs quantum-wire laser on InP(001) substrate

A self-assembled quantum-wire laser structure was grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy in an InAlGaAs-InAlAs matrix oil InP(001) substrate. Ridge-waveguide lasers were fabricated and demonstrated to operate at a heatsink temperature tip to 330 K in continuous-wave (CW) mode. The emission wavelength of the lasers with 5 mm-long cavity was 1.713 mu m at room temperature in CW mode. The temperature stability of the devices was analysed and the characteristic temperature was found to be 47 K in the mnge of 220-320 K.

Photon localization and lasing in disordered GaNxAs1-x optical superlattices

We propose an approach to fabricate a disordered optical superlattice using microcracking faces in GaNxAs1-x epilayers. Laser action is observed and the emission exhibits random laser behaviors. A transfer-matrix simulation suggests photon localization occurs at the lasing modes.

A 2x2 optical switch based on plasma dispersion effect in silicon-on-insulator

Based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure, a 2 x 2 optical switch is fabricated on SOI wafer. Modulation of the refractive index of MZI arms is achieved through free carriers plasma dispersion effect of silicon. The device presents an insertion loss as low as 3.44 dB and a response time as small as 300 ns. The crosstalk and extinction ratio are -15.54 and 14.9 dB, respectively. Detailed analysis and explanation of the operating behaviors are also presented. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Detect the sub-wavelength data by applying a very-small-aperture laser

We present a theoretical and experimental research about applying a very-small-aperture laser (VSAL) to detect sub-wavelength data. Near-field distribution of a VSAL, which is essential for the application of such near-field devices, will be affected by the sample or fiber posited in the near-field region of the aperture. When the device is applied to detect the sub-wavelength data, the real resolution depends on the near-field spot size, the divergent angle of the beam and the distance from the aperture to the sample. Experimental results, including the near-field detection of the spot and detection of the sub-wavelength data by using the VSAL, are presented in this paper. We realize the two dimensional scanning about the sub-wavelength data (with the width 600 nm) by employing a VSAL with a 300 nm x 300 nm aperture.

A 1.5 mu m n-type InGaAsP/InGaAsP modulation-doped multiple quantum well DFB laser by MOCVD

1.5 mu m n-type InGaAsP/InGaAsP modulation-doped multiple quantum well (MD-MQW) DFB lasers have been fabricated successfully by low pressure metal organic chemical vapour deposition (LP-MOCVD) technology. The experimental results indicate that n-type MD-MQWs can effectively reduce the threshold Current compared with conventional multiple quantum well DFB lasers. Theoretical analysis indicates that such an effect is due to the much smaller absorption loss and lower Auger recombination, compared with that in an undoped MQW structure. Moreover, the introduction of n-type dopant of suitable levels of concentration in the barrier layers enhances the dynamic characteristics of DFB lasers, due to a coupling between the adjacent quantum well layers and tunnelling-assisted injection, which can reduce the relatively long capture time and increase the effective differential gain 1/X dG/dn .

Fabrication process and power and lifetime characteristics of very-small-aperture laser

High output power very-small-aperture laser has been created on 650 nm edge emitting laser diodes. The far-field output power is 0.4 mW at the 25 mA driving current, and the highest output power exceeds 1 mW. The special fabrication process is described and the failure mechanism leading to the short lifetime of the devices is discussed.

Enhancement of 1.53 mu m photoluminescence from spin-coated Er-Si-O (Er2SiO5) crystalline films by nitrogen plasma treatment

Er-Si-O (Er2SiO5) crystalline films are fabricated by the spin-coating and subsequent annealing process. The fraction of erbium is estimated to be 21.5 at% based on Rutherford backscattering measurement. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates that the Er-Si-O films are similar to Er2SiO5 compound in the crystal structure. The fine structure of room-temperature photoluminescence of Er3+-related transitions suggests that Er has a local environment similar to the Er-O-6 octahedron. Our preliminary results show that the intensity of 1.53 mu m emission is enhanced by a factor of seven after nitrogen plasma treatment by NH3 gas with subsequent post-annealing. The full-width at half-maximum of 1.53 pm emission peak increases from 7.5 to 12.9 nm compared with that of the untreated one. Nitrogen plasma treatment is assumed to tailor Er3+ local environment, increasing the oscillator strength of transitions and thus the excitation/emission cross-section. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1.55-mu m Ridge DFB laser and electroabsorption modulator integrated with buried-ridge-stripe dual-waveguide spot-size converter output

A 1.55-mu m ridge distributed feedback laser and electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with a buried-ridge-stripe dual-waveguide spot-size converter (SSC) at the output port for low-loss coupling to a cleaved single-mode optical fiber was fabricated by means of selective area growth, quantum-well intermixing, and dual-core technologies. These devices exhibit threshold current of 28 mA, 3-dB modulation bandwidth of 12.0 GHz, modulator extinction ratios of 25.0-dB dc. The output beam divergence angles of the SSC in the horizontal and vertical directions are as small as 8.0 degrees x 12.6 degrees, respectively, resulting in 3.2-dB coupling loss with a cleaved single-mode optical fiber.

Electroabsoorption-modulated laser light-source module using selective area growth for 10 Gb/s transmission

In this work, a novel light source of strained InGaAsP/InGaAsP MQW EAM monolithically integrated with DFB laser is fabricated by ultra-low-pressure (22 x 10(2) Pa) selective area growth ( SAG) MOCVD technique. Superior device performances have been obtained, sue h as low threshold current of 19 mA, output light power of about 7 mW, and over 16 dB extinction ratio at 5 V applied voltage when coupled into a single mode fiber. Over 10 GHz 3 dB bandwidth in EAM part is developed with a driving voltage of 3 V. After the chip is packaged into a 7-pin butterfly compact module, 10-Gb/s NRZ transmission experiments are successfully performed in standard fiber. A clearly-open eye diagram is achieved in the module output with over 8.3 dB dynamic extinction ratio. Power penalty less than 1.5 dB has been obtained after transmission through 53.3 km of standard fiber, which demonstrates that high-speed, low chirp EAM/DFB integrated light source can be obtained by ultra-low-pressure (22 x 102 Pa) SAG method.

10 GHz optical short pulse generation using tandem electroabsorption modulators monolithically integrated with distributed feedback laser by ultra-low-pressure selective area growth

In this work, a novel light source of tandem InGaAsP/InGaAsP multiple quantum well electroabsoption modulator( EAM ) monolithically integrated with distributed feedback laser is fabricated by ultra-low-pressure ( 22 x 10(2) Pa ) selective area growth metal-organic chemical vapor diposition technique. Superior device performances have been obtained, such as low threshold current of 19 mA, output light power of 4.5 mW, and over 20 dB extinction ratio at 5 V applied voltage when coupled into a single mode fiber. Over 10 GHz 3dB bandwidth in EAM part is developed with a driving voltage of 2 V. Using this sinusoidal voltage driven integrated device, 10 GHz repetition rate pulse with an actual width of 13.7 ps without any compression elements is obtained due to the gate operation effect of tandem EAMs.