A VCSEL can include: an active region configured to emit light; a blocking region over or under the active region, the blocking region defining a plurality of channels therein; a plurality of conductive channel cores in the plurality of channels of the blocking region, wherein the plurality of conductive channel cores and blocking region form an isolation region; a top electrical contact; and a bottom electrical contact electrically coupled with the top electrical contact through the active region and plurality of conductive channel cores. At least one conductive channel core is a light emitter, and others can be spare light emitters, photodiodes, modulators, and combinations thereof. A waveguide can optically couple two or more of the conductive channel cores. In some aspects, the plurality of conductive channel cores are optically coupled to form a common light emitter that emits light (e.g., single mode) from the plurality of conductive channel cores.

A distributed feedback plus reflection (DFB+R) laser includes an active section, a passive section, a low reflection (LR) mirror, and an etalon. The active section includes a distributed feedback (DFB) grating and is configured to operate in a lasing mode. The passive section is coupled end to end with the active section. The LR mirror is formed on or in the passive section. The etalon includes a portion of the DFB grating, the passive section, and the LR mirror. The lasing mode of the active section is aligned to a long wavelength edge of a reflection peak of the etalon.

A two-kappa DBR laser includes an active section, a HR mirror, a first DBR section, and a second DBR section. The HR mirror is coupled to a rear of the active section. The first DBR section is coupled to a front of the active section, the first DBR section having a first DBR grating with a first kappa κ1. The second DBR section is coupled to a front of the first DBR section such that the first DBR section is positioned between the active section and the second DBR section. The second DBR section has a second DBR grating with a second kappa κ2 less than the first kappa κ1. The two-kappa DBR laser is configured to operate in a lasing mode and has a DBR reflection profile that includes a DBR reflection peak. The lasing mode is aligned to a long wavelength edge of the DBR reflection peak.

An isolator-free laser includes an etalon, an active section, and a low reflection (LR) mirror. The etalon includes a passive section of the isolator-free laser and a reflection profile. The active section is coupled end to end with the passive section. The active section has a distributed feedback (DFB) grating and a lasing mode at a long wavelength side of a reflection peak of the reflection profile. The LR mirror is formed on a front facet of the passive section. The long wavelength edge of the reflection peak of the reflection profile may have a slope greater than 0.006 GHz.sup.1. A RIN of the isolator-free laser under 20 decibels (dB) external cavity optical feedback may be less than or equal to 130 dBc/Hz.

In one embodiment, a nanobeam cavity device includes an elongated waveguide having a central optical cavity, first and second lateral substrates that are positioned on opposed lateral sides of the waveguide, and carrier-injection beams that extend from the first and second lateral substrates to the central optical cavity of the elongated waveguide.

Disclosed are embodiments of bidirectionally emitting semiconductor (BEST) laser architectures including higher order mode suppression structures. The higher order mode suppression structures are centrally located and extend from an inner transition boundary, which may be established by confronting high reflector (HR) facets in some embodiments or a central plane defining two sides of a unitary, bidirectional optical cavity in other embodiments. Examples of the higher order mode suppression structures include narrow regions of bidirectional flared laser oscillator waveguide (FLOW) devices, which are also referred to as reduced mode diode (REM) devices; high-index regions of bidirectional higher-order mode suppressed laser (HOMSL) devices; and non- or less-etched gain-guided lateral waveguides of bidirectional low divergence semiconductor laser (LODSL) devices. The aforementioned devices may also include scattering features, distributed feedback (DFB) gratings, distributed Bragg reflection (DBR) gratings, and combination thereof that also act as supplemental higher order mode suppression structures.

A collinear T-cavity VECSEL system generating intracavity Hermite-Gaussian modes at multiple wavelengths, configured to vary each of these wavelengths individually and independently. A mode converter element and/or an astigmatic mode converter is/are aligned intracavity to reversibly convert the Gaussian modes to HG modes to Laguerre-Gaussian modes, the latter forming the system output having any of the wavelengths provided by the spectrum resulting from nonlinear frequency-mixing intracavity (including generation of UV, visible, mid-IR light). The laser system delivers Watt-level output power in tunable high-order transverse mode distribution.

The present invention provides a widely tunable, single mode emission semiconductor laser which comprises a semiconductor substrate, a first linear ridge waveguide which forms a first coupled cavity, and a second linear ridge waveguide which forms a second coupled cavity, with the first coupled cavity being separated from the second coupled cavity by a gap. The first and second coupled cavities comprise p-contacts and n-contacts for allowing laser currents I.sub.1, I.sub.2 to be injected into the first and second coupled cavities, respectively. The first and second coupled cavities comprise first and second heating resistors, respectively, for heating the first and second coupled cavities when heating currents H.sub.1, H.sub.2 are applied to the first and second heating resistors, respectively. A heating resistor is provided for heating the semiconductor substrate of the semiconductor laser so as to regulate the base temperature T of the chip (i.e., the semiconductor substrate).

A process for creating a stabilized diode laser device is disclosed, where the stabilized diode laser device includes a unibody mounting plate and several chambers aligned along a transmission axis. Various optic components are placed in the chambers, and based on a transmission through the chambers, the optic components are aligned and secured within the chambers.

A coupled-cavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is disclosed. The coupled-cavity VCSEL includes a passive cavity and an additional distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) not found in conventional VCSELs, all in a monolithic device. By including these two elements, the photon lifetime may be increased by a factor of approximately ten, leading to a reduction in the laser linewidth by a factor of approximately 100 compared to conventional VCSELs. The two additional elements also serve to ensure single-mode operation of the coupled-cavity VCSEL.