Effect of photon-energy-dependent loss and gain mechanisms on polarization switching in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

We have analyzed the effect of the photon energy and temperature dependence of both the gain and the total losses inside the cavity to understand the polarization behavior of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The assumption that the lasses are dominated by free-carrier absorption in the p-doped mirror is made. Developing a new theoretical approach, we are able to predict different polarization switching regimes in which switching occurs from the high- to the low-frequency mode, from the low- to the high frequency mode, or both consecutively. All these predictions have been experimentally verified by our measurements on GaAs/AlGaAs proton-implanted vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(99)00111-3].