Reactive ion etching in chlorine, methane, argon and hydrogen was used to etch smooth vertical mirror facets on both sides of InGaAsP/InP lasers. Optical measurements and lifetests show these lasers to have the same characteristics as lasers with cleaved facets.

CCD based spectrometers are commonly used to characterize the optical performance of LEDs. All CCD based spectrometers exhibit varying amounts of stray light. This situation is exacerbated by using tungsten-halogen based sources for calibration. NIST has come up with methods to characterize the stray light associated with CCD based spectrometers using multiple lasers spanning the visible and near IR spectrum. At Sphereoptics we have developed methods to map out and correct for stray light using a double monochromator and software. We have been able to mathematically remove the effects of stray light on many common LED characterization measurements such as spectral flux for instance. These effects were found to be quite substantial especially in the UV part of the spectrum. In this paper we will present our findings on the nature of stray light found in a B&W BRC112E UV spectrometer as well as our progress in correcting the errors it causes.