We experimentally demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge electrically injected vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with post-supported high-contrast gratings (HCGs) at 940 nm. The HCG-VCSELs have two posts to support the air-suspended HCGs, which are realized by simple fabrication without critical point drying. The HCG-VCSEL achieves a threshold current of about 0.65 mA and a side-mode suppression ratio of 43.6 dB under continuous-wave operation at 25°C. Theoretically the HCG-VCSEL with a λ/2-cavity for the transverse magnetic polarization has a smaller effective mode length of 1.38·(λ/n). Thus, the relaxation resonance frequency can be increased by 16% compared with that of the conventional VCSEL. The modulation speed of 100 Gbit/s for the HCG-VCSEL is expected in the on–off keying modulation format. Our easy design of HCG-VCSELs has great potential for applications in optical interconnects, sensing, illumination, and so on.

垂直腔是激光器、探测器、滤波器、传感器等器件的核心结构，垂直腔的光场分布对激光器、滤波器、传感器等的性能具有重要的影响。垂直腔的结构影响垂直腔的光场分布，从而影响基于垂直腔的器件设计、制作以及其性能。近年来，人们围绕垂直腔的构建及其光场调控做了大量的研究，在理论基础以及器件应用等方面取得了显著进展。首先，介绍了传统上/下分布布拉格反射镜垂直腔的色散特性，和其光场调控的方法以及它们在激光器和滤波器等领域的应用；其次，介绍了基于一维和二维高折射率差亚波长光栅基复合腔的色散特性，和它们在新型激光器和单片集成多波长滤波器阵列等领域的应用；最后，对文章进行总结并展望了垂直腔的新应用。

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are the ideal optical sources for data communication and sensing. In data communication, large data rates combined with excellent energy efficiency and temperature stability have been achieved based on advanced device design and modulation formats. VCSELs are also promising sources for photonic integrated circuits due to their small footprint and low power consumption. Also, VCSELs are commonly used for a wide variety of applications in the consumer electronics market. These applications range from laser mice to three-dimensional (3D) sensing and imaging, including various 3D movement detections, such as gesture recognition or face recognition. Novel VCSEL types will include metastructures, exhibiting additional unique properties, of largest importance for next-generation data communication, sensing, and photonic integrated circuits.