Abstract
Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are attractive light sources for various optoelectronic applications. However, laser heating limits the device performance. The investigation of temperature effects requires that the active-region temperature be known. Usually, the red-shift Δλ of the Fabry–Perot (FP) mode wavelength is utilized to estimate a temperature TΔλ. This wavelength increase with elevated temperature results primarily from the refractive-index rise of the optical materials inside the VCSEL. Thus, TΔλ gives an average temperature of the resonator. The almost-linear function Δλ(T) is obtained for homogeneous laser heating (equal to heat-sink temperature) in pulsed laser operation, and it is then applied to continuous-wave (cw) operation. But in cw operation, the temperature distribution inside the laser is nonuniform.2 Several heat sources at different locations have to be considered, and the maximum temperature of the active region Ta,max can be much higher than the expected value TΔλ.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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