Speed enhancement of VCSELs by photon lifetime reduction

Journal article, 2010

The dependence of the performance of high-speed 850 nm vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) on photon lifetime is investigated. The photon lifetime is controlled by shallow surface etching. It is demonstrated that a reduction of photon lifetime by similar to 50% leads to a significant improvement of efficiency and speed. A record high 3 dB bandwidth of 23 GHz is achieved.