Cavity mode gain alignment in GaAsSb-based near-infrared vertical cavity lasers studied by spectroscopy and device measurements

We present a combination of spectroscopy and device measurements on GaAsSb/GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) structures to determine the temperature at which the wavelength of the VCSEL cavity mode (CM) aligns with that of the quantum well (QW) ground-state transition (GST), and therefore the gain peak. We find that, despite the achievement of room temperature (RT) continuous wave lasing in VCSEL devices, the QW transition and the CM are actually slightly misaligned at this temperature; room temperature electroluminescence measurements from a cleaved edge of the VCSEL wafer indicate that the 300 K QW GST energy is at 0.975 +/- 0.005 eV, while the CM measured in the VCSEL surface reflectivity spectra is at 0.9805 +/- 0.0002 eV. When the wafer sample is cooled, the CM and QW GST can be brought into alignment at 270 +/- 10K, as confirmed by temperature-dependent electro-modulated reflectance (ER) and edge-electroluminescence spectroscopic studies. This alignment temperature is further confirmed by comparing the temperature dependence of the emission energy of a fabricated VCSEL device with that of an edge-emitting laser structure with a nominally identical active region. The study suggests that for further device improvement, the room temperature CM and QW GST energies should be more closely matched and both designed to a smaller energy of about 0.95 eV, somewhat closer to the 1.31 mu m target. The study amply demonstrates the usefulness of non-destructive ER characterisation techniques in VCSEL manufacturing with GaAsSb-based QWs. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4744985]