Ring and stripe oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Ring and stripe oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers are studied. Interesting coupling effects are observed due to the nonzero propagation velocity of the optical mode in the plane of the cavity. The stripe geometries appear interesting due to the very low threshold and provide a convenient means for increasing the aperture size while maintaining uniform current pumping. The ring laser provides a means of obtaining well defined multiple spots in the far field.