Stochastic polarization switching dynamics in Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers: Theory and Experiment

We present an analytical, numerical and experimental study of the switching time and
jitter of current induced polarization switching in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting
Lasers in the presence of spontaneous emission noise. Assuming that the switching is
induced by changes in the dichroism, the problem can be reduced to the well-known
first passage time problem in gain switched Class-A lasers. The theoretical results
obtained in this way show excellent agreement both with numerical simulations based
on the full rate equations model, and with experiments performed on oxide-confined
Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers .