A 1060 nm VCSEL is successfully used to transmit data over multi-mode fiber at 50 Gb/s

What is it about?

The GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is a common light source used in optical interconnects. The 850 nm VCSEL is the most commonly used but 850 nm optical interconnects have limited reach at high bit rates. Some of the reasons for the limitation can be affected by using 1060 nm VCSELs instead. The paper discusses key design choices made to make a high-speed 1060 nm VCSEL and shows the measured performance of a fabricated 1060 nm VCSEL. The VCSEL is characterized under various conditions and bit rates are presented for a very short distance measurement. So far, this type of VCSEL looks promising to extend the reach of optical interconnects but it still needs to be tested in transmission over longer fiber distances.

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Why is it important?

We have shown that the design that we propose can be used to fabricate high-speed 1060 nm VCSELs. The design is based on GaAs technology, which due to its benefits, is already heavily used in optical interconnects. With more research this 1060 nm VCSEL might enable low cost, energy efficient, high-speed VCSELs to be used in optical interconnects with extended reach.