Structural dependence of the thermal resistance of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

Abstract

Thermal effects are well known to limit peak output power and efficiency of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). However, they are often disregarded in VCSEL design. In this work, using a simple thermal model, we consider the effect of device structure (both geometry and layer composition) on the thermal properties of VCSELs and verify the validity of the model by comparing with experimental results.