A 1.3-µm lens-integrated horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser with direct and highly efficient coupling to optical fibers

A novel 1.3-µm surface-emitting laser integrated with a monolithic InP bulk lens was demonstrated. The laser achieved very narrow far-field angles of around 2° leading to a −2.7 dB direct coupling to a single-mode fiber.

1. Introduction

Cost-effective optical sub-assembled modules are the key in realizing high performance optical transceivers. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are often employed as assembly-friendly lightsources because of intrinsic narrow beam divergence [1], which enables direct couplings to multi-mode fibers (MMFs) and recently to single-mode fibers (SMFs) [2]. I.3-μm range VCSELs have been developed for long-distance communication use. However, it is still difficult to achieve several mW output power operated at elevated temperatures.