IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005

911

Introduction to the Issue on

Semiconductor Lasers
HROUGHOUT their long history, semiconductor lasers have led to timely developments in many important fields. Systems
for optical fiber communications and optical storage/recording and devices like the laser-diode-pumped solid-state laser,
have been actualized due to the evolution of semiconductor lasers.
Important achievements in the field of semiconductor lasers are summarized biennially at the prestigious IEEE International
Semiconductor Laser Conference (ISLC) and chronicled in a series of biennial special issues in this journal. The latest ISLC in
this long and successful tradition, the 19th, was held in Matsue, Japan, in September 2004 and featured a number of excellent
presentations and exciting discussions.
The purpose of this issue is to capture the enthusiasm for semiconductor laser research felt at ISLC 2004 and, by including
significant results obtained after the conference, to add other important contributions to the biennial series.
The collection of 45 exciting papers covers the current state-of-the-art of semiconductor laser research. From these papers, we
can understand that, although most devices have matured considerably, semiconductor laser research remains vital, especially in
prospective applications.
The continual evolution of device designs and fabrication techniques are enabling us to put complicated new devices, including
tunable lasers, microstructure lasers, and integrated lasers, into practical use.
Progress in crystal growth is producing advanced materials and devices, such as Sb- and N-containing semiconductor and
quantum dots. These achievements are extending lasing wavelengths toward long and short wavelength regions and also providing
improved lasing performance.
The steady improvement of output power could lead to a new market for semiconductor lasers in material processing.
Our ever-deepening understanding of semiconductor and laser physics is leading to the development of simulation tools for
describing the behavior of more complex lasing systems.
In closing, we sincerely thank all the authors whose scientific and technical achievements form the basis of this special issue.
We also thank the anonymous reviewers for helping assure the high quality and standards of the papers. Last but certainly not
least, we are extremely grateful to Janet Reed and the great IEEE team for their excellent administrative assistance.

YUZO YOSHIKUNI
NTT Photonics Laboratories
Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan

SHIGEHISA ARAI
Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Center
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo 152-8552, Japan

LARRY A. COLDREN
University of California, Santa Barbara
Electrical Computing and Engineering
and Materials Departments
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9560 USA

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSTQE.2005.854370

1077-260X/$20.00 2005 IEEE

912

IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 11, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005

Yuzo Yoshikuni (M01) was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. He received the B.S., M.S., and
Ph.D. degrees in applied chemistry from Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1977, 1979, and
1983, respectively.
He joined the NTT Electrical Communication Laboratory, Kanagawa, Japan, in 1982, where he
has since been engaged in research on single-wavelength GaInAspInP lasers. His major works
have been concentrated on device designing and its characteristics analysis including the relevant
measurements and computation. In 1987, he joined British Telecom Research Laboratories as
a Visiting Researcher, where he was involved in the research of SOAs. In 1990, he was with
the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), Tokyo University, as an
Associate Professor. He is currently engaged in research on semiconductor integrated optical
devices and tunable lasers as Senior Research Engineer with NTT Photonics Laboratories.
Dr. Yoshikuni is a member of the Institute of Electronics, the Communication Engineers of
Japan, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, IEEE LEOS, and the Optical Society of America.

Shigehisa Arai (M83) was born in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1953. He received the B.E., M.E., and
D.E. degrees in electronics from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, in 1977, 1979, and
1982, respectively. During his doctoral work, he developed the two-phase solution LPE growth
of GaInAsPInP in the emission wavelength of 1.11.6 m and BH lasers in the 1.51.6 m
region, as well as dynamic single-mode lasers.
In 1982, he joined the Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
as a Research Associate. From 1983 to 1984, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel,
NJ. He became an Associate Professor in 1987 with the Department of Physical Electronics,
and a Professor in 1994 with the Research Center for Quantum Effect Electronics, then a Professor in 2004 with the Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Center (QNERC), Tokyo Institute
of Technology. He has been engaged in the research on photonic integrated devices, such as
dynamic-single-mode and wavelength tunable semiconductor lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, and optical switches/modulators. Recently, he also has been engaged in the research of
low-damage and cost-effective processing technologies of ultrafine structures for high performance lasers and photonic integrated
circuits.
Dr. Arai received an Excellent Paper Award in 1988 from the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers (IEICE) of Japan, and the Michael Lunn Memorial Award from the Indium Phosphide and Related Materials Conference
in 2000. He is a member of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS), OSA, IEICE, and the Japan Society of Applied
Physics.

Larry A. Coldren (S67M72SM77F82) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering

from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1972.
In 1984, after 13 years in research at Bell Laboratories, he was appointed Professor of electrical
and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). In 1986, he
assumed a joint appointment with the Materials Department, and in 2000 he was awarded the
Fred Kavli Chair in Optoelectronics and Sensors. He also serves as Chairman and Chief Scientist
at Agility Communications, Inc., a company he co-founded in 1998 to commercialize widely
tunable optical transmitters and transponders. At UCSB his research has included work on novel
fabrication technology and optoelectronic components, including guided-wave and vertical-cavity
modulators and lasers, as well as photonic integrated circuits that incorporate widely tunable lasers
with numerous other optical components. He has authored or co-authored over 700 papers, five
book chapters, one textbook, and has been issued 36 patents.
Dr. Coldren is a Fellow of the OSA and IEE, U.K., a member of the National Academy of
Engineering, and a recipient of the 2004 John Tyndall Award.