A.C. Bryce

A UNIVERSAL DAMAGE INDUCED TECHNIQUE FOR QUANTUM WELL INTERMIXING

We report a novel technique for quantum well intermixing which is simple, reliable and low cost, and appears universally applicable to a wide range of material systems. The technique involves the deposition of a thin layer of sputtered SiO2 and a subsequent high temperature anneal. The deposition process appears to generate point defects at the sample surface, leading to an enhanced intermixing rate and a commensurate reduction in the required anneal temperature. Using appropriate masking it is possible to completely suppress the intermixing process, enabling large differential band gap shifts (over 100 meV) to be obtained across a single wafer.

Monolithic integration via a universal damage enhanced quantum-well intermixing technique

A novel technique for quantum-well intermixing is demonstrated, which has proven a reliable means for obtaining postgrowth shifts in the band edge of a wide range of III-V material systems. The technique relies upon the generation of point defects via plasma induced damage during the deposition of sputtered SiO/sub 2/, and provides a simple and reliable process for the fabrication of both wavelength tuned lasers and monolithically integrated devices. Wavelength tuned broad area oxide stripe lasers are demonstrated in InGaAs-InAlGaAs, InGaAs-InGaAsP, and GaInP-AlGaInP quantum well systems, and it is shown that low absorption losses are obtained after intermixing. Oxide stripe lasers with integrated slab waveguides have also enabled the production of a narrow single lobed far field (3/spl deg/) pattern in both InGaAs-InAlGaAs, and GaInP-AlGaInP devices. Extended cavity ridge waveguide lasers operating at 1.5 /spl mu/m are demonstrated with low loss (/spl alpha/=4.1 cm/sup -1/) waveguides, and it is shown that this loss is limited only by free carrier absorption in waveguide cladding layers. In addition, the operation of intermixed multimode interference couplers is demonstrated, where four GaAs-AlGaAs laser amplifiers are monolithically integrated to produce high output powers of 180 mW in a single fundamental mode. The results illustrate that the technique can routinely be used to fabricate low-loss optical interconnects and offers a very promising route toward photonic integration.

Monolithic integration in InGaAs-InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well structures using laser intermixing

The bandgap of InGaAs-InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well (MQW) material can be accurately tuned by photoabsorption-induced disordering (PAID), using a Nd:YAG laser, to allow lasers, modulators, and passive waveguides to be fabricated from a standard MQW structure. The process relies on optical absorption in the active region of the MQW to produce sufficient heat to cause interdiffusion between the wells and barriers. Bandgap shifts larger than 100 meV are obtainable using laser power densities of around 5 W/spl middot/mm/sup -2/ and periods of illumination of a few minutes to tens of minutes. This process provides an effective way of altering the emission wavelengths of lasers fabricated from a single epitaxial wafer. Blue shifts of up to 160 nm in the lasing spectra of both broad-area and ridge waveguide lasers are reported. The bandgap-tuned lasers are assessed in terms of threshold current density, internal quantum efficiency, and internal losses. The ON/OFF ratios of bandgap-tuned electroabsorption modulators were tested over a range of wavelengths, with modulation depths of 20 dB obtained from material which has been bandgap-shifted by 120 nm, while samples shifted by 80 nm gave modulation depths as high as 27 dB. Single-mode waveguide losses are as low as 5 dB/spl middot/cm/sup -1/ at 1550 mm. Selective-area disordering has been used in the fabrication of extended cavity lasers. The retention of good electrical and optical properties in intermixed material demonstrates that PAID is a promising technique for the integration of devices to produce photonic integrated circuits. A quantum-well intermixing technique using a pulsed laser is also demonstrated.

Quasi phase matching in GaAs--AlAs superlattice waveguides through bandgap tuning by use of quantum-well intermixing.

We report the observation of second-harmonic generation by type I quasi phase matching in a GaAs-AlAs superlattice waveguide. Quasi phase matching was achieved through modulation of the nonlinear coefficient chi((2))(zxy), which we realized by periodically tuning the superlattice bandgap. Second-harmonic generation was demonstrated for fundamental wavelengths from 1480 to 1520 nm, from the third-order gratings with periods from 10.5 to 12.4microm . The second-harmonic signal spectra demonstrated narrowing owing to the finite bandwidth of the quasi-phase-matching grating. An average power of ~110 nW was obtained for the second harmonic by use of an average launched pump power of ?2.3mW .

Subpicosecond Pulse Generation at Quasi-40-GHz Using a Passively Mode-Locked AlGaInAs–InP 1.55-

We report on subpicosecond pulse generation using passively mode-locked laser diodes based on AlGaInAs 1.55-mum strained multiquantum-wells. Without any external pulse compression, the nearly transform-limited Gaussian pulses are generated at the quasi-40-GHz repetition rate with the 700-fs pulse duration.

\mu{\hbox {m}}

The authors demonstrate an improved catastrophic optical damage (COD) level from a ridge laser with nonabsorbing mirrors (NAMs) fabricated by quantum well intermixing. Under destructive testing conditions, the COD level of the NAM laser was improved by a factor of 2.6 compared to the standard laser, attributed to reduced absorption induced facet degradation. Verification of the degradation mechanism was confirmed by inspection and removal of damaged facets.

Strained Quantum-Well Laser

A phosphorus-doped silica (SiO2:P) cap containing 5 wt% P has been demonstrated to inhibit the bandgap shifts of p-i-n and n-i-p GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well laser structures after rapid thermal processing. The intermixing suppression has been attributed to the fact that SiO2:P is more dense and void free compared with standard SiO2 together with a strain relaxation effect of the cap layer during annealing. Band gap shift differences as large as 100 meV have been observed from samples capped with SiO2 and with SiO2:P. The n-i-p structure showed a higher degree of intermixing compared to p-i-n structure. This behaviour has been attributed to the rise of Fermi level in the n doped structure, through which the formation energy of Ga vacancies is reduced compared to the p doped structure.

Improved catastrophic optical damage level from laser with nonabsorbing mirrors

By using the technique of quantum-well intermixing (QWI), monolithically integrated passive, and active waveguides can be fabricated. It is shown that mode-locked extended cavity semiconductor lasers with integrated low-loss passive waveguides display superior performance to devices in which the entire waveguide is active: the threshold current is a factor of 3-5 lower, the pulsewidth is reduced from 10.2 ps in the all active laser to 3.5 ps in the extended cavity device and there is a decrease in the free-running jitter level from 15 to 6 ps (10 kHz-10 MHz).

Suppression of quantum well intermixing in GaAs/AlGaAs laser structures using phosphorus-doped SiO2 encapsulant layer

A phosphorus-doped silica (P:SiO/sub 2/) cap containing 5 wt% P has been demonstrated to inhibit the bandgap shifts of p-i-n and n-i-p GaAs-AlGaAs quantum-well laser structures during rapid thermal processing. Bandgap shift differences as large as 100 meV have been observed between samples capped with SiO/sub 2/ and with P:SiO/sub 2/. The technique has been used to fabricate GaAs-AlGaAs ridge lasers with integrated transparent waveguides. With a selective differential blue-shift of 30 nm in the absorption edge, devices with 400 /spl mu/m/2.73-mm-long active/passive sections exhibited an average threshold current of 9 mA in continuous-wave (CW) operation, only 2.2 mA higher than that of discrete lasers of the same active length and from the same chip. Extended cavity mode-locked lasers were also investigated and compared to all active devices. For the extended cavity device, the threshold current is a factor of 3-5 lower, the pulsewidth is reduced from 10.3 to 3.5 ps and there is a decrease in the free-running jitter level from 15 ps (measurement bandwidth 10 kHz-10 MHz) to 6 ps. In addition, the extended cavity lasers do not exhibit any self-pulsing modulation of the mode-locked pulse train, unlike the all-active lasers, and the optical spectra indicate that the pulses are more linearly chirped.

Improvements in mode-locked semiconductor diode lasers using monolithically integrated passive waveguides made by quantum-well intermixing

In this letter, we report the fabrication of 2 /spl times/ 2 crosspoint switches, which monolithically integrate passive waveguides, electro-absorption modulators and optical amplifiers onto one chip using sputtered SiO/sub 2/ quantum-well intermixing technique. The switches have low insertion loss to be about 4-5 dB and extinction ratios up to 26 dB.