Monolithic laser

This report describes research to develop the first prototype integrated optical transmitter. The effort has involved the development of a unique (Ga,In)As surface laser and high index infrared glass waveguides. Ternary alloy Ga(1-x)In(x)As mesas with 0 = x - 0.2 have been grown and the details of their morphology determined. Also, a GaAs mesa diode laser was successfully fabricated. The p-n junction was formed by Zn diffusion into the top of the mesas. The diode mesa laser is the first monolithic, nondiscrete injection laser ever made. It is the only diode laser ever completely fabricated (including optical cavity formation) monolithically using conventional photolithographic fabrication technology. Finally, high quality chalcogenide glass optical waveguides have been developed. Losses as low as 0.4 db/cm were measured in sputtered As2S3 films. Channel optical stripline waveguides were fabricated by overlaying photoresist strips on the glass films. Low-loss channel waveguiding was observed in these structures. (Modified author abstract)