Thermoreflectance imaging of laser diodes and VCSELs along and perpendicular to the emission direction

Thermal characterization of semiconductor lasers is an important issue for optoelectronics. This paper presents our thermoreflectance measurements on two different types of laser diodes: classical ridge laser diodes and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). We first studied the external temperature increase in ridge diodes in order to determine inhomogeneity. Then, we tried to determine the inner temperature of the VCSELs.