Polarization properties of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with various patterns in tilted pillar structures

Abstract

We have studied the polarization properties of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with various patterns in tilted pillar structures. Laser pillars with circular, square, diamond and rectangular patterns were formed by reactive ion beam etching. Tilted pillars were obtained by tilting the [110] or [1 (1) over bar 0] direction of the (001) GaAs substrate. The sizes of pillars varied from 10 mu m to 20 mu m and their tilt angle varied from 15 degrees to 30 degrees toward [110] or [1 (1) over bar 0] with respect to [001]. The vertical asymmetry of the tilted pillar strongly affected the polarization selectivity of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with the tilted pillar, rather than the anisotropy of an overlapped region in the planar direction.