Coupled resonator vertical-cavity laser diode

We report the operation of an electrically injected monolithic coupled resonator vertical-cavity laser which consists of an active cavity containing InxGa1 - xAs quantum wells optically coupled to a passive GaAs cavity. This device demonstrates modulation characteristics arising from dynamic changes in the coupling between the active and passive cavities. A composite mode theory is used to model the output modulation of the coupled resonator vertical-cavity laser. It is shown that the laser intensity can be modulated by either forward or reverse biasing the passive cavity. Under forward biasing, the modulation is due to carrier induced changes in the refractive index, while for reverse bias operation the modulation is caused by field dependent cavity enhanced absorption. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.