Emanuel P. Haglund

Impact of Damping on High-Speed Large Signal VCSEL Dynamics

An investigation of the optimal relaxation oscillation damping for high-speed 850-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) under large signal operation is presented, using devices with K -factors ranging from 0.1 to 0.4 ns. Time-domain measurements of turn-on transients are used to quantify damping dependent rise times, overshoots, and signal amplitudes. Optical eye diagrams together with timing jitter and bit error rate measurements reveal a tradeoff between the rise time and the duration of the relaxation oscillations. To produce a high-quality eye at a specific data rate, a proper amount of damping is needed to simultaneously obtain sufficiently high bandwidth and low timing jitter. We found that for error-free transmission, a VCSEL with a 0.3 ns K-factor achieved the best receiver sensitivity at 10 and 25 Gb/s, whereas a less damped VCSEL with a 0.2 ns K-factor achieved the best sensitivity at 40 Gb/s.

20-Gb/s Modulation of Silicon-Integrated Short-Wavelength Hybrid-Cavity VCSELs

We investigate the dynamics of silicon-integrated 850-nm-wavelength hybrid-cavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The VCSELs consist of a GaAs-based half-VCSEL attached to a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector on a silicon substrate using ultra-thin divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene adhesive bonding. A 5-μm oxide aperture diameter VCSEL, with a small signal modulation bandwidth of 11 GHz, supports data transmission at bit rates up to 20 Gb/s. The modulation bandwidth and the large signal modulation characteristics are found to be impaired by the high thermal impedance.

Silicon-Integrated Hybrid-Cavity 850-nm VCSELs by Adhesive Bonding: Impact of Bonding Interface Thickness on Laser Performance

The impact of bonding interface thickness on the performance of 850-nm silicon-integrated hybrid-cavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (HC-VCSELs) is investigated. The HC-VCSEL is constructed by attaching a III–V “half-VCSEL” to a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector on a Si substrate using ultrathin divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene (DVS-BCB) adhesive bonding. The thickness of the bonding interface, defined by the DVS-BCB layer together with a thin SiO2 layer on the “half-VCSEL,” can be used to tailor the performance, for e.g., maximum output power or modulation speed at a certain temperature, or temperature-stable performance. Here, we demonstrate an optical output power of 2.3 and 0.9 mW, a modulation bandwidth of 10.0 and 6.4 GHz, and error-free data transmission up to 25 and 10 Gb/s at an ambient temperature of 25 and 85 °C, respectively. The thermal impedance is found to be unaffected by the bonding interface thickness.

Impact of damping on 50 Gbps 4-PAM modulation of 25G class VCSELs

We present an investigation into the effects of photon lifetime and the associated damping of the modulation response on 50 Gbps 4-pulse-amplitude modulation (4-PAM) signal generation with directly modulated 25G class vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). While 4-PAM benefits from higher slope efficiency and output power, it is shown that the greater impact of intensity noise and dynamic nonlinearities implies that a VCSEL with a longer photon lifetime and more damped response is needed when transitioning from existing 25 Gbps OOK to 50 Gbps 4-PAM using the 25G VCSEL technology.

Integration of GaAs-based VCSEL array on SiN platform with HCG reflectors for WDM applications

We present a GaAs-based VCSEL structure, BCB bonded to a Si3N4 waveguide circuit, where one DBR is substituted by a free-standing Si3N4 high-contrast-grating (HCG) reflector realized in the Si3N4 waveguide layer. This design enables solutions for on-chip spectroscopic sensing, and the dense integration of 850-nm WDM data communication transmitters where individual channel wavelengths are set by varying the HCG parameters. RCWA shows that a 300nm-thick Si3N4 HCG with 800nm period and 40% duty cycle reflects strongly (<99%) over a 75nm wavelength range around 850nm. A design with a standing-optical-field minimum at the III-V/airgap interface maximizes the HCG’s influence on the VCSEL wavelength, allowing for a 15-nm-wide wavelength setting range with low threshold gain (<1000 cm-1).

High-speed VCSELs and VCSEL arrays for single- and multi-core fiber interconnects

Our recent work on high speed 850 nm VCSELs and VCSEL arrays is reviewed. With a modulation bandwidth approaching 30 GHz, our VCSELs have enabled transmitters and links operating at data rates in excess of 70 Gbps (at IBM) and transmission over onboard polymer waveguides at 40 Gbps (at University of Cambridge). VCSELs with an integrated mode filter for single mode emission have enabled transmission at 25 Gbps over >1 km of multimode fiber and a speed-distance product of 40 Gbps·km. Dense VCSEL arrays for multicore fiber interconnects have demonstrated 240 Gbps aggregate capacity with excellent uniformity and low crosstalk between the 40 Gbps channels.

VCSEL modulation capacity: Continued improvements or physical limits?

The short-reach optical interconnects used in datacenters and high-performance computing systems are dominated by VCSEL and multimode fiber (MMF) links1. The VCSEL-MMF technology is the most cost and power efficient and offers the smallest footprint. VCSELs operating at 25–28 Gbit/s are in production2 while research has extended the VCSEL modulation bandwidth to 30 GHz3 (Fig.1) and enabled OOK-NRZ data transmission up to 57 Gbit/s at 25°C4 and 50 Gbit/s at 85°C5, without equalization or forward-error-correction (FEC). A VCSEL energy dissipation below 100 fJ/bit has been demonstrated at 25–50 Gbit/s3 (Fig.1). The need for higher interconnect capacity raises the question whether the speed and dynamics of VCSELs can be further improved or whether physical limits preventing this have been reached. Higher speed VCSELs would enable higher lane rates and therefore reduced number of lanes and increased bandwidth density for a given aggregate interconnect capacity.

Impact of Damping on 50 Gbps 4-PAM Modulation of 25G Class VCSELs

We investigate the effects of photon lifetime and damping of the modulation response on the quality of 50 Gbps 4-PAM signal generation with directly modulated 25G class VCSELs and identify the appropriate values for the K-factor.

Dynamic properties of silicon-integrated short-wavelength hybrid-cavity VCSEL

We present a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) where a GaAs-based “half-VCSEL” is attached to a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector on silicon using ultra-thin divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene (DVS-BCB) adhesive bonding, creating a hybrid cavity where the optical field extends over both the GaAs- and the Si-based parts of the cavity. A VCSEL with an oxide aperture diameter of 5 μm and a threshold current of 0.4 mA provides 0.6 mW output power at 845 nm. The VCSEL exhibits a modulation bandwidth of 11 GHz and can transmit data up to 20 Gbps.

850 nm hybrid vertical cavity laser integration for on-chip silicon photonics light sources

The realization of 850 nm hybrid Ill-V/dielectric VCSELs is reported in order to realize low power consumption integrated light sources for SiN waveguide circuits, which find applications both in short-reach optical communication and optical sensors.