1280 results about "Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser" patented technology

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) comprising a low-loss thin metal contact and current spreading layer within the optical cavity that provides for improved ohmic contact and lateral current distribution, a substrate including a plano-concave optical cavity, a (Ga,In,Al)N multiple quantum well (MQW) active region contained within the optical cavity that generates light when injected by an electrical current, and an integrated micromirror fabricated onto the substrate that provides for optical mode control of the light generated by the active region. A relatively simple process is used to fabricate the VCSEL.

Organic vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers ("OVCSELs"), in which a thin layer of organic material is disposed between highly reflective mirrors to thereby form a vertical cavity within a stacked arrangement. The lasers of the present invention each comprise a first mirror layer; a layer of active organic material over the first mirror layer; and a second mirror layer over the layer of first active organic material. The active organic material lases when pumped to thereby produce laser light. The present invention provides for optical semiconductor lasers with desired properties such as narrow bandwidth emission, the minimal use of active organic materials, and the facilitation of wavelength tuning and electrical pumping.

An annular metal layer is provided between a conductive oxide layer and a dielectric mirror in a vertical cavity surface emitting laser. The annular metal layer defines the output window for the laser cavity which matches the TEM.sub.00 fundamental mode of the light beam emitted by the active region of the VCSEL. The metal layer outside the output window provides modal reflectivity discrimination against high order transverse modes of the light beam emitted by the active region of the VCSEL.

An optical illuminator using Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) is disclosed. Optical modules configured using single VCSEL and VCSEL arrays bonded to a thermal submount to conduct heat away from the VCSEL array, are suited for high power and high speed operation. High speed optical modules are configured using single VCSEL or VCSEL arrays connected to a high speed electronic module on a common thermal submount or on a common Printed Circuit Board (PCB) platform including transmission lines. The electronic module provides low inductance current drive and control functions to operate the VCSEL and VCSEL array. VCSEL apertures are designed for a desired beam shape. Additional beam shaping elements are provided for VCSELs or VCSEL arrays, for desired output beam shapes and / or emission patterns. VCSEL arrays may be operated in continuous wave (CW) or pulse operation modes in a programmable fashion using a built-in or an external controller.

An energy-assisted magnetic recording apparatus comprises a magnetic recording head having an end surface and an interface surface perpendicular to the end surface. The apparatus further comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) bonded to the interface surface and configured to emit laser light through the interface surface and into the magnetic recording head. The magnetic recording head includes one or more light redirecting structures for redirecting the laser light towards the end surface. A method of making an energy-assisted magnetic recording apparatus comprises the steps of aligning a first wafer including a plurality of VCSELs with a second wafer including a plurality of magnetic recording heads, such that an emitting region of each of the plurality of VCSELs is disposed over a light redirecting structure of a corresponding one of the plurality of magnetic recording heads, and bonding the first wafer to the second wafer.

A magnetic recording device comprises a multi-aperture vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) operably coupled to a magnetic recording head and a plurality of waveguides disposed in the magnetic recording head. Each of the plurality of waveguides has a first end coupled to a different aperture of the multi-aperture VCSEL. The magnetic recording device further comprises a near field transducer disposed in the magnetic recording head. Each of the plurality of waveguides has a second end coupled to the near field transducer.

A vertical cavity surface emitter array package for compiling optical data signals through an optical coupling connector is presented. The package includes the laser array that is mounted on a backing plate that has alignment holes in it, which receive alignment pins to align the array with the input end of the optical coupling connector. In one version of the package the input end of the optical coupling connector extends into the housing of the package and is aligned with the laser array. In a second version the optical coupling connector is extended to the housing and is aligned with optical fibers that project a feed-through assembly into alignment with a second optical coupling connector inside of the package, which in turn is aligned with the laser array. In a third embodiment an optical lens is aligned with the laser array and transmits optical data signals through a window insert in the housing of the package to the input end of the optical coupling connector.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is described using a sub-wavelength grating (SWG) structure that has a very broad reflection spectrum and very high reflectivity. The grating comprises segments of high and low refractive index materials with an index differential between the high and low index materials. By way of example, a SWG reflective structure is disposed over a low index cavity region and above another reflective layer (either SWG or DBR). In one embodiment, the SWG structure is movable, such as according to MEMS techniques, in relation to the opposing reflector to provide wavelength selective tuning. The SWG-VCSEL design is scalable to form the optical cavities for a range of SWG-VCSELs at different wavelengths, and wavelength ranges.

Optical transmitters for radio over fiber systems are disclosed. More particularly, the optical transmitters include optically-injection-locked vertical cavity surface-emitting laser devices (OIL VCSELS). The transmitters include a master laser, at least one slave laser injection-locked by the master laser, and an equalizer / filter unit that enables the ratio of the carrier power to the sideband power in the output signal of the transmitter to be varied and optimized independently of the injection ratio of the transmitter.

An apparatus and method are disclosed for decreasing the spectral bandwidth of a semiconductor laser, such as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser.

In a VCSEL, a first multilayer film reflector, an active layer having a light emitting central region, a second multilayer film reflector, and a transverse mode adjustment layer are layered in this order. The first multilayer film reflector has a quadrangle current injection region with an intersection of diagonal lines corresponding to the light emitting central region. The second multilayer film reflector has a light emitting window provided in a region corresponding to one diagonal line of the current injection region and a pair of grooves provided with the light emitting window in between. The transverse mode adjustment layer is provided correspondingly to the light emitting window, and reflectance of a peripheral region thereof is lower than that of a central region thereof.

Light sources are disclosed. A disclosed light source includes a III-V based pump light source (170) that includes nitrogen and emits light at a first wavelength. The light source further includes a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) that converts at least a portion of the first wavelength light (174) emitted by the pump light source (170) to at least a partially coherent light at a second wavelength (176). The VCSEL includes first and second mirrors (120, 160) that form an optical cavity for light at the second wavelength. The first mirror (120) is substantially reflective at the second wavelength and includes a first multilayer stack. The second mirror (160) is substantially transmissive at the first wavelength and partially reflective and partially transmissive and the second wavelength. The second mirror includes a second multilayer stack. The VCSEL further includes a semiconductor multilayer stack (130) that is disposed between the first and second mirrors and converts at least a portion of the first wavelength light to the second wavelength light. The semiconductor multilayer stack (130) includes a quantum well that includes a Cd(Mg)ZnSe alloy.

Both a system and method for optically powering a network component, such as the transponder of a picocell, is provided. The system includes a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) for processing an input signal, a remotely-located optical power source, and an optical fiber for conducting optical power from the source to the VCSEL. The VCSEL may be electrically biased from current generated by an optical-electro converter coupled to the fiber, or directly optically biased from light from the optical power source. A bias tee is connected between an input signal and an input of the VCSEL such that the VCSEL generates a modulated optical signal. The system may be the transponder of a picocell system where the VCSEL generates an optical uplink signal conducted to a head-end circuit via the same or a separate optical fiber.

Materials suitable for fabricating optical monitors include amorphous, polycrystalline and microcrystalline materials. Semitransparent photodetector materials may be based on silicon or silicon and germanium alloys. Conductors for connecting to and contacting the photodetector may be made from various transparent oxides, including zinc oxide, tin oxide and indium tin oxide. Optical monitor structures based on PIN diodes take advantage of the materials disclosed. Various contact, lineout, substrate and interconnect structures optimize the monitors for integration with various light sources, including vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays. Complete integrated structures include a light source, optical monitor and either a package or waveguide into which light is directed.

The present invention relates to a laser device comprising at least one large area VCSEL (101) and at least one optical feedback element (201, 301) providing an angular-selective feedback for laser radiation emitted from the laser. The angular-selective feedback is higher for at least one portion of laser radiation emitted at angles θ>0 to the optical axis (601) of the laser than for laser radiation emitted on said optical axis (601). The invention also refers to a method of stabilizing a laser emission of a large area VCSEL in a desired angular distribution (501, 502). With the proposed device and method, the intensity distribution of a large area VCSEL can be stabilized in a desired shape, for example a ring shape.

The present invention relates to laser ranging and detection by sequentially emitting a plurality of beams from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) structure, re-directing the beams through optical elements such that they are fanned out over the region of view, and detecting any beams that may be reflected by objects in the region of view. The range and bearing of such objects can be determined from the beam time-of-flight and beam angle.

A chip scale atomic clock is disclosed that provides a low power atomic time / frequency reference that employs direct RF-interrogation on an end-state transition. The atomic time / frequency reference includes an alkali vapor cell containing alkali atoms, preferably cesium atoms, flex circuits for physically supporting, heating, and thermally isolating the alkali vapor cell, a laser source for pumping alkali atoms within the alkali vapor cell into an end resonance state by applying an optical signal along a first axis, a photodetector for detecting a second optical signal emanating from the alkali vapor cell along the first axis, a pair of RF excitation coils for applying an RF-interrogation signal to the alkali atoms along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, a pair of bias coils for applying a uniform DC magnetic field along the first axis, and a pair of Zeeman coils for applying a Zeeman interrogation signal to the alkali atoms and oriented and configured to apply a time-varying magnetic field along the second axis through the alkali vapor cell. Another flex circuit is used for physically supporting the laser source, for heating the laser source, and for providing thermal isolation of the laser source. The laser source can be a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VSCEL). The bias coils can be Helmholtz coils.

To solve the existing problems in distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) used in the prior art, the present invention provides a fabrication method of group III nitride based distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), which suppresses the generation of cracks, and a distributed Bragg reflector with high reflectivity, broad stopband, and adaptability to optical devices such as vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, micro-cavity light emitting diodes, resonance cavity light emitting diodes and photodetectors.

A hermetically sealed, opto-electronic array housing assembly having a ceramic base, electrical connectors, a metal can, and a glass window. The glass window can support a micro-lens array. The metal can receives the glass window. The electrical impedance of the electrical connectors is beneficially carefully controlled to enable high-speed data communications. A multi-element optical fiber connector can provide for optical communications to and / or from an opto-electronic array contained within the housing.

A swept source Optical coherence tomography system (SSOCT) comprises a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser with an integrated MEMs tunable mirror movable by electro-static deflection. The MEMs tunable VCSEL offers scan rates greater than 100 khz and tuning ranges approaching 200 nm around 1300 nm and 150 nm around 850 nm. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, a bottom mirror of the VCSEL is comprised of a Aluminum Gallium Arsenide / Aluminum Oxide DBR stack, and a movable top mirror is comprised of a TiO2 / SiO2 DBR stack. A MEMs tunable VCSEL at 1300 nm is preferably pumped through the top mirror in a wavelength range between 1050 and 1120 nm, and a MEMs tunable VCSEL at 850 nm is preferably pumped through the top mirror in a wavelength range between 700 nm and 730 nm.

An optical sensor diagnostic system utilizes a tunable Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) that incorporates an integrated MEMS tuning mechanism provides variable wavelength light into an optical fiber with improved wavelength scanning speed and greater simplicity of construction. Sensors, such as Bragg gratings, are disposed along the fiber in the light path. Each sensor reflects or transmits light exhibiting a characteristic amplitude and / or phase feature with respect to wavelength, the wavelength position of which is affected by an environmental stimulus imposed thereon. The light reflected or transmitted through each sensor is mixed with light passed through an optical reference path and then converted to an electrical signal by a simple detector and monitored by circuitry that applies signal processing to the detected power spectral distribution, by this means providing output signals indicative of the environmental stimulus on each sensor.

A Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and its fabrication are taught which incorporate a high contrast grating (HCG) to replace the top mirror of the device and which can operate at long-wavelengths, such as beyond 0.85 μm. The HCG beneficially provides a high degree of polarization differentiation and provides optical containment in response to lensing by the HCG. The device incorporates a quantum well active layer, a tunnel junction, and control of aperture width using ion implantation. A tunable VCSEL is taught which controls output wavelength in response to controlling a micro-mechanical actuator coupled to a HCG top mirror which can be moved to, or from, the body of the VCSEL. A fabrication process for the VCSEL includes patterning the HCG using a wet etching process, and highly anisotropic wet etching while precisely controlling temperature and PH.

A vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) package useful in interferometry. The present invention comprises methods and apparatuses that allow use of multimode VCSELS, and that provide for wavelength control and stability. The present invention contemplates the use of a defined response element, such as an etalon, in combination with control of the operating environment of the VCSEL to monitor and control the output wavelength of the VCSEL.

In a vertical cavity surface emitting laser including a cavity structure formed by arranging a first reflector (102), an active region (104) and a second reflector (107) on a substrate, the second reflector is formed to include a refractive index periodic structure having a first medium showing a first refractive index and a second medium showing a second refractive index lower than the first refractive index. The first medium and the second medium are arranged periodically in an in-plane direction of the substrate and an electrically conductive adjacent layer made of a material showing a refractive index lower than the first refractive index is arranged at a position adjacent to the second reflector between the active region and the second reflector.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser device includes a first reflective mirror layer, a second reflective-mirror layer, and an active layer disposed therebetween, wherein at least one of the first reflective mirror layer and the second reflective mirror layer includes a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction and a part of the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity.

An optical device, such as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) may be housed in a hermetic enclosure such as a transistor-outline (TO) can and form part of a transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA). The TOSA may be connected to a printed circuit board (PCB) with a flexible circuit. A heating element provided on the flexible circuit heats the hermetic enclosure to improve radio frequency (RF) performance of the optical device in cold ambient conditions.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) device with improved power and beam characteristics. The VCSEL device contains one VCSEL or an array of VCSELs. Each VCSEL has a corresponding integrated microlens, and a heat sink is attached to the device side of the VCSEL device. The heat sink allows improved heat dissipation, and therefore provides improved power characteristics of the VCSEL device output laser beam. The microlens or microlens array allows easier and more compact focussing of the VCSEL device output laser beam. The VCSEL device can be used in a variety of optical systems, and its improved power and focusing characteristics provide a compact, low power, low cost laser system.