Optoelectronic device based on a surface-trapped optical mode

US10666017B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Vertically Integrated (VI) Systems GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Nikolay Ledentsov · Berlin, DE
• Vitaly Shchukin · Berlin, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 26, 2019
• Grant date: May 26, 2020
• Expiry date: Mar 26, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S2301/176
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An optoelectronic device employs a surface-trapped TM-polarized optical mode existing at a boundary between a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a homogeneous medium, dielectric or air. The device contains a resonant optical cavity surrounded by two DBRs, and an additional DBR section on top supporting the surface-trapped mode. Selective chemical transformation, like selective oxidation, etching or alloy composition intermixing form a central core and a periphery having different vertical profiles of the refractive index. Therefore, the longitudinal VCSEL mode in the core is non-orthogonal to the surface-trapped mode in the periphery, and the two modes can be transformed into each other. Such transformation allows fabrication of a number of optoelectronic devices and systems like a single transverse mode VCSEL, an integrated optical circuit operating as an optical amplifier, an integrated optical circuit combining a VCSEL and a resonant cavity photodetector, etc.