Monolithic integration of VCSELs and MSM photodiodes for bidirectional multimode fiber communications

The monolithic integration of 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes and GaAs-based metal-semiconductor-metal photodiodes is introduced as an approach to bidirectional optical data transmission in the Gbit/s range of data rates. Polymer-clad silica fibers and graded-index fibers with core diameters of 200 and 100 mm, respectively, serve as the transmission medium, covering link lengths relevant for in-car up to in-house communications and beyond.