High speed VCSELs for optical interconnects

This paper presents an overview of our recent work on high speed, oxide confined, 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). With proper active region and cavity designs, and techniques for reducing capacitance and thermal impedance, we have reached a modulation bandwidth of 23 GHz and demonstrated 40 Gbps transmission. Using an integrated mode filter for reducing the spectral width we have extended the reach on multimode fiber at 25 Gbps from 100 to 500 m. Improved link capacity was also demonstrated using a more spectrally efficient multi-level modulation format (4-PAM). Finally, a MEMS-technology for wafer scale integration of tunable high speed VCSELs was developed, enabling a tuning range of 24 nm, a 6 GHz modulation bandwidth, and 5 Gbps transmission.