Abstract

Low threshold current and light output perpendicular to the wafer make vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes (VCSELs) attractive sources for optical interconnects.^1,2 More than that, two-dimensional VCSEL arrays for parallel data processing are potential candidates for optical computers. A modulation bandwidth of 6 GHz (Ref. 3) and highly efficient fiber coupling to multimode fibers⁴ of 10 × 10 VCSEL arrays has already been shown. Here we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, transmission of 1-Gbit/s data rates in 4.5-μm-core-diameter single-mode fibers as elements of these arrays. The individual lasers show low feedback sensitivity, requiring a 1.5-dB power penalty for a - 10-dB feedback level at a bit error rate (BER) of 10⁻¹¹.

© 1995 Optical Society of America