Performance of dry-etched short cavity GaAs/AlGaAs multiquantum-well lasers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Fabrication and lasing characteristics of short cavity GaAs/AlGaAs multiquantum‐well (MQW) lasers with dry‐etched facets are described in detail. The lasers are fabricated from GaAs/AlGaAs double‐heterostructure wafers grown by molecular‐beam epitaxy. Fabry–Perot cavities are formed by a reactive ion‐beam etching technique with Cl2 plasma. The dependence of lasing characteristics on the cavity length is examined. A threshold current as low as 30 mA is achieved for 20‐μm‐long cavity MQW lasers with 12 110‐Å‐thick GaAs wells separated by 11 50‐Å‐thick Al0.2Ga0.8As barriers. The very short cavity lasers with large mode spacing realize the stable single‐longitudinal‐mode operation. Furthermore, the lasers show good high‐frequency performance. A relaxation oscillation frequency as high as 32 GHz is observed with a 30‐μm‐long laser. Temperature characteristics are also presented.