Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with nanostructures for optical interconnects

Abstract

Optical interconnects (OIs) are the only solution to fulfil both the requirements on large bandwidth and minimum power consumption of data centers and high-performance computers (HPCs). Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are the ideal light sources for OIs and have been widely deployed. This paper will summarize the progress made on modulation speed, energy efficiency, and temperature stability of VCSELs. Especially VCSELs with surface nanostructures will be reviewed in depth. Such lasers will provide new opportunities to further boost the performance of VCSELs and open a new door for energy-efficient OIs.

Keywords

optical interconnects (OIs) / vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) / subwavelength grating / modulation speed / energy efficiency

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding via the collaborative research center 787 and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for supporting Anjin Liu by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. We thank W. Hofmann, G. Larisch, Hui Li, J. A. Lott, P. Moser, and P. Wolf for helpful discussion. Anjin Liu also gratefully acknowledges the support from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Pioneer Hundred Talents Program.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg