OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF REACTIVE ION ETCHED CORNER REFLECTOR STRAINED-LAYER INGAAS-GAAS-ALGAAS QUANTUM-WELL LASERS

The dry etched corner reflector (CR) may be a suitable candidate for a high-reflectivity integrable laser cavity structure. We describe here the optical properties of strained-layer InGaAs-GaAs-AlGaAs quantum-well lasers with a cavity comprised of a single cleaved facet and an etched CR. For comparison, we contrast these data with Fabry-Perot lasers made from the same material having either two cleaved facets or one cleaved and one straight-etched facet. The etched CR exhibits higher overall reflectivity than the straight-etched and cleaved facet structures, resulting in lower threshold current density and higher efficiency. However, near-field measurements indicate that improvement in reflectivity from the etched CR's is offset by their tendency to favor odd-order transverse modes.