Abstract

Although Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers only radiate into one single longitudinal mode, their modal pattern is usually dominated by higher-order transverse modes, whose switching dynamics is primarily driven by locally inhomogeneous current and temperature distributions. Knowledge of the current density profile is fundamental for the estimate of the spatial variation of ohmic power losses and temperature distribution. Given the high optical field strength inside such microcavities, both linear and nonlinear variations of the refractive index, due to local variations of carrier concentration and temperature, strongly affect the mode emission profile.

© 2000 IEEE