Circular polarization switching and bistability in an optically injected 1300 nm spin-vertical cavity surface emitting laser

Abstract

We report the experimental observation of circular polarization switching (PS) and polarization bistability (PB) in a 1300 nm dilute nitride spin-vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL). We demonstrate that the circularly polarized optical signal at 1300 nm can gradually or abruptly switch the polarization ellipticity of the spin-VCSEL from right-to-left circular polarization and vice versa. Moreover, different forms of PS and PB between right- and left-circular polarizations are observed by controlling the injection strength and the initial wavelength detuning. These results obtained at the telecom wavelength of 1300 nm open the door for novel uses of spin-VCSELs in polarization sensitive applications in future optical systems.

Polarization Responses of a Solitary and Optically Injected Vertical Cavity Spin Laser

“…We have calculated the top and bottom mirror reflectivities as 99.6% and 99.8% respectively. The design is very similar to that described in [4], [7], [30], [31] except that it is has an additional two pairs of top layers.…”

“…Bistability and dynamics of the linearly polarised (LP) VCSEL modes with current [15], [16], temperature [17], or linear optical injection [18]- [27] have been investigated in recent years, due to their optical memory and logic applications. While the LP aspects have received considerable attention, the study of elliptic or circular injection into spin lasers, and the elliptic polarisation that results [28]- [31] is less well documented. The present contribution provides a link between these two sets of work.…”

Integrated semiconductor twin-microdisk laser under mutually optical injection

“…8 Tunable dual-mode lasing based on optically injected quantum-dot laser was experimentally demonstrated, 9 and the circular polarization switching and polarization bistability were realized for optically injected spin-vertical cavity surface emitting laser. 10 Due to the merits of small footprint and low power consumption, whispering-gallery mode (WGM) microcavity lasers have been investigated for applications in optical frequency conversion, signal processing, and optical interconnects. [11][12][13][14][15] The influence of optical injection on modulation characteristics has been investigated for a microring laser under the four-wave mixing (FWM) state.…”

Polarization switching characteristics in a 1550??nm VCSEL subject to circularly polarized optical injection

“…For PS in a VCSEL subject to variable-polarization optical injection, Al-Seyab et al theoretically investigated the input polarization angle required for PS in a 1550 nm VCSEL subject to optical injection of arbitrary polarization [25] . Relative to the two optical injection schemes mentioned above, PS characteristics in a VCSEL subject to CPOI is rarely reported though the circular PS and PB in a 1300 nm spin-VCSEL subject to CPOI have been experimentally observed [27] .…”