US 5,052,016 AGranted

Resonant-periodic-gain distributed-feedback surface-emitting semiconductor laser

AssigneeUniversity of New Mexico

InventorsMohammad Mahbobzadeh, Marek A. Osinski

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Abstract

A resonant-periodic-gain distributed-feedback surface-emitting semiconductor laser has a resonator with an axis perpendicular to the plane of the substrate. The resonator comprises a stack of distributed feedback elements, each consisting of a spacer region and a very thin gain element positioned at an antinode of a standing wave inside the resonator at a designed wavelength. Each gain element consists of one or a group of closely spaced quantum-well layers. Each spacer, separating two adjacent gain elements, consists of two intermediate-and low-refractive-index layers, each layer of the spacer having an optical thickness approximately equal to a quarter of the designed wavelength. The refractive index of each of the gain elements is higher than that of the spacer materials. The device can be surrounded by a material of refractive index lower than all materials comprising the device for better confinement of carriers and control of guided modes of radiation. The structure can be directly pumped either optically or with an electron beam. Also, various well known schemes for electrical pumping can be utilized. The devices can be arranged to form one- or two-dimensional arrays.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An electromagnetic wave amplifying semiconductor device comprising a distributed feedback resonant periodic gain medium for receiving pumping energy, said medium comprising:

a. a plurality of thin semiconductor bodies disposed along a line essentially parallel to the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave, each said thin body acting as part of said gain medium, said thin bodies having a first predetermined refractive index with respect to the electromagnetic wave to be amplified in said device, each of said bodies being located in coincidence with an antinode of said electromagnetic wave;
b. a plurality of thick spacer body means disposed along said line and separating said thin bodies from each other, each of said spacer body means comprising first and second adjacent layers of material and each of said spacer body layers having a thickness approximately equal to one quarter the wavelength of said electromagnetic wave and much greater than the thickness of each of said thin bodies, the material of said first layer having with respect to said electromagnetic wave a second predetermined refractive index different from said first predetermined refractive index and the material of said second layer having with respect to said electromagnetic wave a third predetermined refractive index different from said first and second predetermined refractive indices, whereby each of the said spacer body means feeds back a portion of the electromagnetic wave, each of said spacer body means combined with its adjacent thin body gain medium thereby contributing a portion of the distributed feedback so that resonant periodic gain is produced in said medium responsive to the reception of the pumping energy.

An electromagnetic wave semiconductor amplifier comprising a plurality of devices each having a distributed feedback resonant periodic gain medium for receiving pumping energy, said medium comprising:

a. a plurality of thin semiconductor bodies disposed along a line essentially parallel to the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave, each said thin body acting as a part of said gain medium, said thin bodies having a first predetermined refractive index with respect to the electromagnetic wave to be amplified in said device, and each of said bodies being located in coincidence with an antinode of said electromagnetic wave;
b. a plurality of thick spacer body means disposed along said line and separating said thin bodies from each other, each of said spacer body means comprising first and second adjacent layers of material, each of said spacer body layers having a thickness approximately equal to one quarter the wavelength of said electromagnetic wave and much greater than the thickness of each of said thin bodies, the material of said first layer having with respect to said electromagnetic wave a second predetermined refractive index different from said first predetermined refractive index and the material of said second layer having with respect said electromagnetic wave a third predetermined refractive index different from said first and second predetermined refractive indices, whereby each of said spacer body means feeds back a portion of the electromagnetic wave, each of said spacer body means combined with its adjacent thin body gain medium thereby contributing a portion of the distributed feedback, whereby resonant periodic gain is produced in said medium responsive to the reception of the pumping energy;
c. phase shifter means having a fourth predetermined refractive index disposed along said line within said plurality of spacer body means;
d. said first predetermined refractive index being substantially greater than said second predetermined refractive index, said second predetermined refractive index being substantially greater than said third predetermined refractive index, and said fourth predetermined refractive index being less than that of said thin body means, and e. a substrate having a planar surface essentially perpendicular to said line and abutting said medium of each device.

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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.