Tunable VCSEL with ultra-thin high contrast grating for high-speed tuning

We report a nano-electromechanical optoelectronic (NEMO) tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with an ultra-thin (145 nm) electrostatically actuated high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) designed to strongly reflect TE-polarized light. Single mode emission (SMSR >45 dB) and continuous wavelength tuning (approximately 4 nm) were obtained at room temperature with output power up to 2 mW under continuous wave (CW) operation. A record short wavelength tuning time (approximately 90 ns) is experimentally demonstrated, which is >100 times faster than previously reported DBR-based tunable VCSELs and a 1.7 times improvement over the previously reported TM polarized NEMO tunable VCSELs.