Observation of spin polarization modulation responses of injection-locked vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

We report on the modulation responses of an injection-locked vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) measured using an optical spin-polarization modulation technique. We reveal that weak injection locking is suitable to maintain a strong resonance response at a high-frequency region depending on the linear birefringence of the VCSEL, a unique feature of spin-polarization modulation response. The measured results can be reasonably reproduced with simulated ones on the basis of spin-flip rate equations. Our findings support novel applications of spin-controlled VCSELs with injection locking.