Building blocks are provided for on-chip chemical sensors and other highly-compact photonic integrated circuits combining interband or quantum cascade lasers and detectors with passive waveguides and other components integrated on a III-V or silicon. A MWIR or LWIR laser source is evanescently coupled into a passive extended or resonant-cavity waveguide that provides evanescent coupling to a sample gas (or liquid) for spectroscopic chemical sensing. In the case of an ICL, the uppermost layer of this passive waveguide has a relatively high index of refraction that enables it to form the core of the waveguide, while the ambient air, consisting of the sample gas, functions as the top cladding layer. A fraction of the propagating light beam is absorbed by the sample gas if it contains a chemical species having a fingerprint absorption feature within the spectral linewidth of the laser emission.

A surface emitting laser includes a first reflective layer, an active layer provided on the first reflective layer, and a second reflective layer provided on the active layer. The first reflective layer, the active layer, and the second reflective layer form a mesa, and the mesa has an electrically insulating region and an electrically conductive region. The electrically insulating region is positioned at a center portion of the mesa in a surface direction, and the electrically conductive region includes the first reflective layer, the active layer, and the second reflective layer and is positioned outside the electrically insulating region in such a manner as to surround the electrically insulating region.

A light emitting element according to the present disclosure includes a first light reflecting layer 41, a laminated structure 20, and a second light reflecting layer 42 laminated to each other. The laminated structure 20 includes a first compound semiconductor layer 21, a light emitting layer 23, and a second compound semiconductor layer 22 laminated to each other from a side of the first light reflecting layer. Light from the laminated structure 20 is emitted to an outside via the first light reflecting layer 41 or the second light reflecting layer 42. The first light reflecting layer 41 has a structure in which at least two types of thin films 41A and 41B are alternately laminated to each other in plural numbers. A film thickness modulating layer 80 is provided between the laminated structure 20 and the first light reflecting layer 41.

Methods, devices and systems are described for enabling a series-connected, single chip vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array. In one aspect, the single chip includes one or more non-conductive regions one the conductive layer to produce a plurality of electrically separate conductive regions. Each electrically separate region may have a plurality of VCSEL elements, including an anode region and a cathode region connected in series. The chip is connected to a sub-mount with a metallization pattern, which connects each electrically separate region on the conductive layer in series. In one aspect, the metallization pattern connects the anode region of a first electrically separate region to the cathode region of a second electrically separate region. The metallization pattern may also comprise cuts that maintain electrical separation between the anode and cathode regions on each conductive layer region, and that align with the etched regions.

Provided is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode (VCSEL) with a small divergence angle. The VCSEL includes a multi-layer structure on a substrate. The multi-layer structure includes an active region and current confinement layers. Each of the current confinement layers has an optical aperture (OA). When the area of the OA of the current confinement layer outside the active region is larger than the areas of the OAs of the current confinement layers inside the active region, such that the VCSEL has a small divergence angle in the short pulse mode.

Building blocks are provided for on-chip chemical sensors and other highly-compact photonic integrated circuits combining interband or quantum cascade lasers and detectors with passive waveguides and other components integrated on a III-V or silicon. A MWIR or LWIR laser source is evanescently coupled into a passive extended or resonant-cavity waveguide that provides evanescent coupling to a sample gas (or liquid) for spectroscopic chemical sensing. In the case of an ICL, the uppermost layer of this passive waveguide has a relatively high index of refraction that enables it to form the core of the waveguide, while the ambient air, consisting of the sample gas, functions as the top cladding layer. A fraction of the propagating light beam is absorbed by the sample gas if it contains a chemical species having a fingerprint absorption feature within the spectral linewidth of the laser emission.

An active region formed on a substrate, and a p-type region and an n-type region formed so as to sandwich the active region are provided. The p-type region and the n-type region are formed so as to sandwich the active region. Both edges of a first side being a side of the p-type region and facing a first side surface of the active region are rounded in a direction separating from the active region. Also, both edges of a second side being a side of the n-type region and facing a second side surface of the active region are rounded in a direction separating from the active region.

Building blocks are provided for on-chip chemical sensors and other highly-compact photonic integrated circuits combining interband or quantum cascade lasers and detectors with passive waveguides and other components integrated on a III-V or silicon. A MWIR or LWIR laser source is evanescently coupled into a passive extended or resonant-cavity waveguide that provides evanescent coupling to a sample gas (or liquid) for spectroscopic chemical sensing. In the case of an ICL, the uppermost layer of this passive waveguide has a relatively high index of refraction that enables it to form the core of the waveguide, while the ambient air, consisting of the sample gas, functions as the top cladding layer. A fraction of the propagating light beam is absorbed by the sample gas if it contains a chemical species having a fingerprint absorption feature within the spectral linewidth of the laser emission.

[Object] To provide a vertical cavity surface emitting laser element having excellent electric responsiveness and high productivity and reliability, a method of producing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser element, and a photoelectric conversion apparatus.

[Solving Means] A vertical cavity surface emitting laser element according to the present technology includes: a semiconductor stacked body. The semiconductor stacked body is a semiconductor stacked body that includes a first mirror having a first conductive type, a second mirror that has a second conductive type and causes optical resonance together with the first mirror, an active layer provided between the first mirror and the second mirror, and a confinement layer that is provided between the first mirror and the second mirror and has a non-oxidized region and an oxidized region, the non-oxidized region being formed of a first material, the oxidized region being provided around the non-oxidized region and being formed of a second material obtained by oxidizing the first material, and has a mesa having an outer peripheral surface from which end surfaces of the active layer and the confinement layer are exposed and an ion implantation region that is a region into which ions have been implanted, is formed to reach a predetermined depth in the active layer and the confinement layer from the outer peripheral surface, and is separated from the non-oxidized region.

The present embodiment relates to a single semiconductor light-emitting element including a plurality of light-emitting portions each of which is capable of generating light of a desired beam projection pattern and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor light-emitting element. In the semiconductor light-emitting element, an active layer and a phase modulation layer are formed on a common substrate layer, and the phase modulation layer includes at least a plurality of phase modulation regions arranged along the common substrate layer. The plurality of phase modulation regions are obtained by separating the phase modulation layer into a plurality of places after manufacturing the phase modulation layer, and as a result, the semiconductor light-emitting element provided with a plurality of light-emitting portions that have been accurately aligned can be obtained through a simple manufacturing process as compared with the related art.