David K. McElfresh

Modulation of Coherently Coupled Phased Photonic Crystal Vertical Cavity Laser Arrays

The modulation properties of two-element photonic crystal ion-implanted coherently coupled vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays emitting at 850 nm are reported. Single mode emission into either the in-phase or out-of-phase supermode and significant modulation bandwidth enhancement are obtained for both operating conditions. We model our device as a monolithically integrated, mutually optically injection-locked laser system and show that the phase detuning and injection ratio between array elements are critical parameters influencing modulation bandwidth. Comparison of our experimental measurements to our model is consistent with mutual injection locking. Modulation bandwidth greater than 30 GHz and up to 37 GHz is consistently found for several array designs. We show the modulation response can be tailored for different applications.