NEAR FIELD AND FAR FIELD EFFECTS IN THE TAGUCHI-OPTIMIZED DESIGN OF AN InP/GaAs-BASED DOUBLE WAFER-FUSED MQW LONG-WAVELENGTH VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASER

Long-wavelength VCSELs (LW-VCSEL) operating in the 1.55 mu m wavelength regime offer the advantages of low dispersion and optical loss in fiber optic transmission systems which are crucial in increasing data transmission speed and reducing implementation cost of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access networks. LW-VCSELs are attractive light sources because they offer unique features such as low power consumption, narrow beam divergence and ease of fabrication for two-dimensional arrays. This paper compares the near field and far field effects of the numerically investigated LW-VCSEL for various design parameters of the device. The optical intensity profile far from the device surface, in the Fraunhofer region, is important for the optical coupling of the laser with other optical components. The near field pattern is obtained from the structure output whereas the far-field pattern is essentially a two-dimensional fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the near-field pattern. Design parameters such as the number of wells in the multi-quantum-well (MQW) region, the thickness of the MQW and the effect of using Taguchi's orthogonal array method to optimize the device design parameters on the near/far field patterns are evaluated in this paper. We have successfully increased the peak lasing power from an initial 4.84mW to 12.38mW at a bias voltage of 2V and optical wavelength of 1.55 mu m using Taguchi's orthogonal array. As a result of the Taguchi optimization and fine tuning, the device threshold current is found to increase along with a slight decrease in the modulation speed due to increased device widths