Abstract

Semiconductor lasers normally operate in the TE mode because of the higher mirror reflectivity of the TE mode compare to that of the TM mode. We have found that some well-behaved, TE-polarized InGaAsP/InP lasers operate in a pure TM_oo mode or in a mixture of TE and TM modes at low temperatures. The polarization transition occurs at a temperature ranging from room temperature to−200°C, characteristic of each laser. When a laser is operated in the transition regime, the P-I characteristics, in general, have many kinks resulting from a complex transverse mode competition among the TE mode, the TM mode and higher order TE and TM modes.

© 1984 Optical Society of America