Minimum temperature sensitivity of 1.55 μm vertical-cavity lasers at −30 nm gain offset

Double-fused vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have demonstrated the highest temperature performance of any 1.5 μm VCSEL, but further optimization is needed to reduce their temperature sensitivity. We present and analyze threshold current measurements of these devices between −90 °C and 30 °C stage temperature. Despite a zero gain peak offset from the emission wavelength at room temperature, the pulsed threshold current has its minimum near −50 °C corresponding to about −30 nm gain offset. This is in contrast to a common VCSEL design rule. Temperature effects on the optical gain of the strain-compensated InGaAsP/InP active region are found to be the main cause for the disagreement. A design rule modification is proposed. Numerical simulation of an optimized 1.55 μm VCSEL shows that gain offset improvements are counteracted by loss mechanisms.