Abstract
One of the most intriguing aspects of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSEL's) lies in their polarization behaviour, which differs from that of edge-emitting lasers due to the lack of a dominating polarization selection mechanism in the quasi cylindrically symmetric structure. One explanation for the observed polarization switching is of a thermal nature and attributes the switching to the shift (caused by the current heating) of the material gain spectral profile relative to the cavity resonances for the two frequency-split polarization modes1. This model seems to be contradicted by recent experiments, which reported polarization switching at constant active layer temperature (by applying low duty-cycle short pulses on a constant bias level). These authors propose an alternative model based on the spin dynamics between magnetic sublevels in the semiconductor active material2. Nevertheless, thermal effects are recognized to play an important role in the behavior of VCSEL's.
© 1998 IEEE
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