A portable lighting apparatus is provided with a gallium-and-nitrogen containing laser diode based white light source combined with an infrared illumination source which are driven by drivers disposed in a printed circuit board assembly enclosed in a compact housing and powered by a portable power supply therein. The portable lighting apparatus includes a first wavelength converter configured to output a white-color emission and an infrared emission. A beam shaper may be configured to direct the white-color emission and the infrared emission to a front aperture of a compact housing of the portable lighting apparatus. An optical transmitting unit is configured to project or transmit a directional light beam of the white light emission and/or the infrared emission for illuminating a target of interest, transmitting a pulsed sensing signal or modulated data signal generated by the drivers therein. In some configurations, detectors are included for depth sensing and visible/infrared light communications.

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) has a substrate formed of GaAs. A pair of mirrors is provided wherein one of the pair of mirrors is formed on the substrate. A tunnel junction is formed between the pair of mirrors.

An intermediate ultraviolet laser diode device includes a gallium and nitrogen containing substrate member comprising a surface region, a release material overlying the surface region, an n-type gallium and nitrogen containing material; an active region overlying the n-type gallium and nitrogen containing material; a p-type gallium and nitrogen containing material; a first transparent conductive oxide material overlying the p-type gallium and nitrogen containing material; and an interface region overlying the first transparent conductive oxide material.

An optical apparatus includes a light emitting device and a substrate. The light emitting device includes a base including a main body portion containing a ceramic material and wire portions exposed from the main body portion on the lower surface of the base, a lid portion fixed to the base so that a hermetically sealed space is defined by the lid portion and the base, a first semiconductor laser element emitting blue light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, a second semiconductor laser element emitting red light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, a third semiconductor laser element emitting green light and provided in the hermetically sealed space, and a collimate lens arranged on paths of the blue light, the red light and the green light. The substrate includes first metallic films electrically connected with the base of the light emitting device via the wire portions.

A method of producing an ultraviolet laser diode with a low oscillation threshold current density includes stacking a first cladding layer, a light-emitting layer, and a second cladding layer on a substrate in this order to form a nitride semiconductor laminate (step S101), etching at least a portion of the nitride semiconductor laminate to form a mesa structure and setting the ratio between the length of the resonator end faces and the length of the side surfaces of the mesa structure in plan view between 1:5 and 1:500 (step S102), disposing first conductive material on a portion of a first area and applying heat treatment of 400° C. or higher to form a first electrode (step S103), and disposing a second conductive material in an area on the second cladding layer, at a distance of 5 um or more from the side surfaces, to form a second electrode (step S104).

An optical semiconductor device is provided with: a mesa in which a first conductivity type cladding layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity type first cladding layer having a second conductivity type are sequentially laminated on a surface of a first conductivity type substrate; a buried layer that buries both sides of the mesa with a top of the mesa being exposed; and a second conductivity type second cladding layer that buries the buried layer and the top of the mesa exposed from the buried layer, wherein the buried layer includes a layer doped with a semi-insulating material, and a boundary between the second conductivity type first cladding layer and the buried layer is inclined so that a width of the second conductivity-type first cladding layer becomes narrower toward the top of the mesa.

In a semiconductor laser device that includes: a semiconductor laser element that outputs light from an output portion; and a metal stem that holds the semiconductor laser element, the metal stem includes a base that has a reference surface on an upper surface and a protrusion portion that protrudes upward from the reference surface, and the protrusion portion is provided with an installation surface on which the semiconductor laser element is installed and a side surface which is disposed on an identical plane with a part of an outer circumferential surface of the base.

A VCSEL includes an active region between a top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a bottom DBR each having alternating GaAs and AlGaAs layers. The active region includes quantum wells (QW) confined between top and bottom GaAs-containing current-spreading layers (CSL), an aperture layer having an optical aperture and a tunnel junction layer above the QW. A GaAs intermediate layer configured to have an open top air gap is disposed over a boundary layer of the active region and the top DBR. The air gap is made wider than the optical aperture and has a height equal to one quarter of VCSEL's emission wavelength in air. The top DBR is attached to the intermediate layer by applying wafer bonding techniques. VCSEL output, the air gap, and the optical aperture are aligned on the same optical axis. The bottom DBR is epitaxially grown on a silicon or a GaAs substrate.

An edge emitting semiconductor laser and a method for operating an edge emitting semiconductor laser are disclosed. In an embodiment an edge-emitting semiconductor laser includes a semiconductor layer sequence having an active zone configured to generate laser radiation from the material system AlInGaAs, a facet on the semiconductor layer sequence configured to couple-out and/or reflect the laser radiation and a protective layer sequence directly on the facet protecting the facet from damage, the protective layer sequence including a monocrystalline starting layer of a group 12 group 16 material, an intermediate layer of Si and at least one finishing layer consisting essentially of Al, Si and/or Ta and of O and optionally of N, so that the finishing layer is of a different material system than the starting layer and the intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate layer is oxidized on a side facing the finishing layer, and wherein the protective layer is arranged in a direction away from the semiconductor layer sequence in the indicated order.

A light emitting device includes a plurality of semiconductor laser elements, a light-transmissive member, and a wavelength conversion member. Each of the semiconductor laser elements is configured to emit light having a first wavelength. The light-transmissive member includes a plurality of first inclined surfaces and a lower surface. The light-transmissive member is positioned with respect to the semiconductor laser elements so that beams of the light emitted from the semiconductor laser elements enter the light-transmissive member respectively through the first inclined surfaces and exit from the lower surface. The wavelength conversion member is disposed in contact with the lower surface of the light-transmissive member and configured to convert at least a portion of the light exiting from the lower surface to wavelength-converted light having a second wavelength.