Self-pulsing oxide-confined vertical-cavity lasers with ultralow operating current

Selectively oxidised vertical-cavity lasers which exhibit self-pulsating lasing at currents as low as 470 nA are reported. Characteristics including linearly polarised emission, narrow linewidths and coherent near- and far-field diffraction indicate that these devices operate as lasers at DC currents < 1 mu A. Although self-pulsating lasing initiates at submicroampere average current, the injection current during the optical pulse can be > 1 mA.