Author(s): Shao, HY (Shao, Hongyan); Guan, BL (Guan, Baolu); Cui, LJ (Cui, Lijie); Cui, N (Cui, Ning); Zhang, Y (Zhang, Yang); Zeng, YP (Zeng, Yiping)

Source: AIP ADVANCES Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Article Number: 015225 DOI: 10.1063/5.0033685 Published: JAN 1 2021

Abstract: A distinctive method is used to achieve transverse-mode control by building and integrating a tunable liquid crystal (LC) mode filter on top of traditional vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). An LC cell is fabricated by injecting a type of nematic LC material (E7) in an annular groove patterned by SiO2. By electrically tuning the refractive index of the LC, a spatially dependent reflectivity profile can be achieved and optimized, which directly influences the threshold modal gain of each transverse mode provided by oxide-confined VCSELs. The flexible and accurate control performance of the LC mode filter structure have been demonstrated by the simulation results and our analysis. This design is a completely novel method to realize VCSELs with an accurate and real-time controllable transverse-mode, and it will probably play a significant role in the future.

Accession Number: WOS:000609445800002

eISSN: 2158-3226

Full Text: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0033685