Controlled intermixing of multiple quantum wells for broadly tunable integrated lasers

Abdullah J. Zakariya; Nathan Bickel; Patrick LiKamWa

doi:10.1117/12.873579

16 February 2011 Controlled intermixing of multiple quantum wells for broadly tunable integrated lasers

Abdullah J. Zakariya, Nathan Bickel, Patrick LiKamWa

Proceedings Volume 7953, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers X; 79531Y (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.873579
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2011, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

A broadly tunable MQW laser utilizing a combined impurity-free vacancy disordering and beam steering techniques is proposed and investigated experimentally. The device consists of a beam-steering section and an optical amplifier section fabricated on a GaAs/AlGaAs MQW p-i-n hetrostructure substrate. The beam steering section forms a reconfigurable single mode waveguide that can be positioned laterally by applying electrical currents to two parallel contact stripes. The active core of the gain section contains a GaAs/AlGaAs MQW that is progressively disordered such that an optical beam steered through the selected region experience a peak in the gain spectrum that is determined by the degree of disordering of the MQWs. Furthermore the MQW in the beam-steering section is disordered to the largest extent to minimize optical beam attenuation. The MQW structure was intermixed using an impurity-free vacancy induced disordering technique. The MQW sample is encapsulated with a SiO₂ film grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The beam steering region is coated with a 400nm thick SiO₂ film whereas in the gain section, the SiO₂ film is selectively etched such that the thickness grades linearly ranging from 0 to 325nm. The disordering of the entire slab region is then induced by a single rapid thermal annealing step at 975°C for a 20s. Experimental results showed a controllable 10 to 60 nm wavelength blue shift of the peak of the photoluminescence spectrum corresponding to the change in SiO₂ caps thickness and a lateral beam steering range up to 20 μm over the slab region.

Citation Download Citation

Abdullah J. Zakariya, Nathan Bickel, and Patrick LiKamWa "Controlled intermixing of multiple quantum wells for broadly tunable integrated lasers", Proc. SPIE 7953, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers X, 79531Y (16 February 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.873579

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