Narrow-linewidth lasers mainly depend on the development of advanced laser linewidth measurement methods for related technological progress as key devices in satellite laser communications, precision measurements, ultra-high-speed optical communications, and other fields. This manuscript provides a theoretical analysis of linewidth characterization methods based on the beat frequency power spectrum and laser phase noise calculations, and elaborates on existing research of measurement technologies. In addition, to address the technical challenges of complex measurement systems that commonly rely on long optical fibers and significant phase noise jitter in the existing research, a short-delay self-heterodyne method based on coherent envelope spectrum demodulation was discussed in depth to reduce the phase jitter caused by 1/f noise. We assessed the performance parameters and testing conditions of different lasers, as well as the corresponding linewidth characterization methods, and analyzed the measurement accuracy and error sources of various methods.

We report on the design and fabrication of 894.6nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with extremely low threshold at high temperatures, for use in chip-scale Cs atomic clocks. A new design method based on the analysis of the threshold gain and the desired carrier density for different active region structures was proposed to gain the low transparent current density. The increase of the threshold current at higher temperatures was successfully suppressed by introducing the large gain-cavity detuning of VCSEL. By detuning the gain-cavity mode to be −11nm, the minimum threshold current of only 0.23mA at 70 °C was achieved. The operating temperature for emitting the wavelength of 894.6nm was 110 °C, with the single mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of more than 25dB and the threshold current of only 0.32mA.

Selective area epitaxy (SAE) using metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is a crucial fabrication technique for lasers and photonic integrated circuits (PICs). A low-cost, reproducible, and simple process for the mass production of semiconductor lasers with specific structures was realized by means of SAE. This paper presents a review of the applications of SAE in semiconductor lasers. Growth rate enhancement and composition variation, which are two unique characteristics of SAE, are attributed to a mask. The design of the mask geometry enables the engineering of a bandgap to achieve lasing wavelength tuning. SAE allows for the reproducible and economical fabrication of buried heterojunction lasers, quantum dot lasers, and heteroepitaxial III–V compound lasers on Si. Moreover, it enables the fabrication of compact photonic integrated devices, including electro-absorption modulated lasers and multi-wavelength array lasers. Results show that SAE is an economical and reproducible method to fabricate lasers with desired structures. The goals for SAE applications in the future are to improve the performance of lasers and PICs, including reducing the defects of the grown material introduced by the SAE mask and achieving precise control of the thickness and composition.

We characterize laser generation in an ultralong air cavity (several meters in length) using an optical-pumped semiconductor gain chip for laser wireless charging applications. The study realizes laser generation in an external air cavity with a length of 200 cm, for the first time, and achieves a maximum output laser power of more than 86.3 mW. Furthermore, the laser oscillation can be maintained even when the output mirror of laser is off-axis within 1.6 cm. Thus, a long external cavity laser would ease the alignment between the laser beam and charging terminal, making it suitable for laser wireless charging applications.

The vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) is one of the hottest research fields of semiconductor lasers, due to its high power and good beam quality. However, there are few reports about how to systematically design the active region of VECSEL. In this paper, the gain design of quantum wells, which are the most important region within the VECSEL, is carried out. To achieve low power consumption under high temperature condition, epitaxial structure of the VECSEL is optimized by using the commercial software PICS3D. Firstly, the relationship between the structure of quantum well and the gain is simulated by the k·p method. Then, the gain spectra of quantum wells at different carrier densities and temperatures are compared with each other, and the optimal composition and thickness of quantum well are thus determined. The temperature drift coefficient is 0.36 nm/K, obtained by simulating the drift of the gain peak wavelength at the working temperature. Finally, the gain spectra of quantum wells with five different barriers are compared with each other. The slight blue shift of the gain peak in the quantum well with five different barriers accommodates the different emission thermal drifts of the quantum well at high temperature operation. With the GaAsP barriers on both sides of quantum well the gain characteristics of quantum wells can be improved efficiently. The designed structure is deposited by the MOCVD system. According to the reflection spectrum of the gain chip, measured by ellipsometer, the stop-band over 100 nm is centered at the about 970 nm wavelength, confirming accurate growth of the VECSEL. The 808 nm pump laser is focused on the surface of VECSEL chip at an incident angle from 30° to 50°. The VECSEL light-light characteristics are tested under the output coupling mirror with different reflectivity. The output power of VECSEL with a 97.7% reflectance output coupling mirror reaches 9.82 W at the pumping power of 35 W, without saturating the power curve. By using the external mirrors with different reflectivity, there appears the wavelength shift with the pumping power changing from 0.216 nm/W to 0.16 nm/W. Thus, the internal heating effects are different for VECSEL with different mirrors. The divergence angles at two orthogonal directions are 9.2° and 9.0°, respectively. And the circle profile of optical field shows good symmetry.

InGaAs quantum well (QW) lasers have attracted significant attention owing to their considerable potential for applications in optical communications; however, the relationship between the misorientation of the substrates used to grow InGaAs QWs and the structural and optical properties of QWs is still ambiguous. In this study, In-rich InGaAs/GaAsP single QWs were grown in the same run via metal organic chemical vapor deposition on GaAs (001) substrates misoriented by 0°, 2°, and 15° toward (111). The effects of substrate misorientation on the crystal quality and structural properties of InGaAs/GaAsP were investigated by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The 0° substrate exhibited the least lattice relaxation, and with increasing misorientation, the degree of lattice relaxation increased. The optical properties of the InGaAs/GaAsP QWs were investigated using temperature-dependent photoluminescence. An abnormal S-shaped variation of the peak energy and inverse evolution of the spectral bandwidth were observed at low temperatures for the 2° substrate, caused by the localization potentials due to the In-rich clusters. Surface morphology observations revealed that the growth mode varied with different miscuts. Based on the experimental results obtained in this study, a mechanism elucidating the effect of substrate miscuts on the structural and optical properties of QWs was proposed and verified.