Single transverse mode operation of a self-seeded commercial multimode VCSEL

This work presents a novel self-seeding configuration of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) without classical wavelength selective elements. A multimode VCSEL shows stable single transverse mode operation in this configuration. The extremely simple setup consists merely of the commercial VCSEL, an iris, and a plane mirror, in which the reduction of relative intensity noise greater than 20 dB/Hz and the sidemode suppression ratio of 20 dB are achieved.