Diffractive optics for polarization control of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
Dissertation
Authors
Ostermann, Johannes Michael
Faculties
Fakultät für Ingenieurwissenschaften und InformatikAbstract
Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) have replaced edge-emitting laser diodes in several applications during the last years, e.g., in short distance optical data communication. Additionally, their invention has enabled new products such as optical computer mice using semiconductor lasers. However, VCSELs have intrinsically an unstable and not well-defined polarization, which has prohibited their usage in a considerable number of application areas up to now. The highly sought-after polarization stabilization of VCSELs is achieved for the first time by using monolithically integrated surface gratings. The polarization control induced by these surface gratings has proven to be very reliable in thousands of grating VCSELs, under temperature variation, feedback, strain, and high-frequency modulation. Combining a surface grating with a surface relief, VCSELs having simultaneously a stable polarization and a high single-mode output power have been realized for the first time. Thus, surface grating VCSELs combine a well-defined polarization with low production costs and an excellent overall laser performance. With these properties, surface gratings outperform all other methods for polarization control of VCSELs tested before. Consequently, surface gratings have proven to be the method of choice for polarization control of VCSELs in commercial applications.
Date created
2007
Original publication
Johannes Michael Ostermann: Diffractive Optics for Polarization Control of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, Cuvillier Verlag, Göttingen 2007 (ISBN 978-3-86727-333-6)Subject Headings
VCSEL-Laser [GND]Diffraction [LCSH]
Polarization: Light [LCSH]
Semiconductor lasers [LCSH]
Dewey Decimal Group
DDC 620 / Engineering & allied operationsMetadata
Show full item recordCitation example
Ostermann, Johannes Michael (2007): Diffractive optics for polarization control of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Open Access Repositorium der Universität Ulm. Dissertation. http://dx.doi.org/10.18725/OPARU-889