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 monolithic InP-based PIC having a first photonic assembly that has a first optical splitter-combiner unit having a first end part that is optically connected with a first optical waveguide and a second end part that is optically connected with a first main photonic circuit and a first auxiliary photonic circuit. The first auxiliary photonic circuit has a first laser unit, and a first SOA. The first SOA is configurable to be in a first operational state in which the first SOA allows optical communication between the first laser unit and the first optical splitter-combiner unit, or a second operational state in which the first SOA prevents optical communication between the first laser unit and the first optical splitter-combiner unit. An opto-electronic system including the PIC.

A tunable laser that includes an array of parallel optical amplifiers is described. The laser may also include an intracavity N×M coupler that couples power between a cavity mirror and the array of parallel optical amplifiers. Phase adjusters in optical paths between the N×M coupler and the optical amplifiers can be used to adjust an amount of power output from M−1 ports of the N×M coupler. A tunable wavelength filter is incorporated in the laser cavity to select a lasing wavelength.

An edge emitting laser (EEL) device includes a substrate, an n-type buffer layer, a first n-type cladding layer, a grating layer, a spacer layer, a lower confinement unit, an active layer, an upper confinement unit, a p-type cladding layer, a tunnel junction layer and a second n-type cladding layer sequentially arranged from bottom to top. The tunnel junction layer can stop an etching process from continuing to form the second n-type cladding layer into a predetermined ridge structure and converting a part of the p-type cladding layer into the n-type cladding layer to reduce series resistance of the EEL device. Therefore, the optical field and active layer tend to be coupled at the middle of the active layer, the lower half of the active layer can be utilized effectively, and the optical field is near to the grating layer to achieve better optical field/grating coupling efficiency and lower threshold current.

A laser structure, including: a dielectric matrix formed of a first material; a laser source formed within the dielectric matrix and formed of a semiconductor material; and a plurality of side confining features formed within the dielectric matrix and extending parallel to and along a length of the laser source. The plurality of side confining features are formed of the semiconductor material.

A semiconductor device according to the present disclosure includes a main part that includes a semiconductor substrate, a first cladding layer provided on the semiconductor substrate, an active layer provided on the first cladding layer, and a second cladding layer provided on the active layer, and in which a flat part and a mesa part are formed, the mesa part including the active layer and a first embedded layer covering a top surface of the flat part and a side surface of the mesa part, wherein the first embedded layer has a projecting part on a top surface of a portion provided in a region within a height of the mesa part from a boundary between the mesa part and the flat part in the top surface of the flat part.

Provided is a tunable laser that prevents basic characteristics of the laser from deteriorating and enables a high-speed control of the oscillation wavelength. The tunable laser includes a semiconductor gain portion including a III-V compound semiconductor, an optical feedback portion configured to diffract light generated in the semiconductor gain portion and feed the diffracted light back to the semiconductor gain portion, and an optical modulation portion including an optical waveguide that contains doped indirect transition-type silicon. The semiconductor gain portion and the optical modulation portion are disposed so that optical modes thereof overlap each other, and the semiconductor gain portion includes an embedded active layer thin film of a type in which a current is injected in a lateral direction.

A semiconductor device includes a detector structure. The detector structure includes an integrated circuit on a substrate, and a photo detector on an upper surface of the integrated circuit that is opposite the substrate, where the substrate is non-native to the photo detector. A System-on-Chip apparatus includes at least one laser emitter on a non-native substrate, at least one photo detector on the non-native substrate, and an input/output circuit. The at least one photo detector of the second plurality of photo detectors is disposed on an integrated circuit between the at least one photo detector and the non-native substrate to form a detector structure.

A laser array includes a plurality of laser emitters arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns on a substrate that is non-native to the plurality of laser emitters, and a plurality of driver transistors on the substrate adjacent one or more of the laser diodes. A subset of the plurality of laser emitters includes a string of laser emitters that are connected such that an anode of at least one laser emitter of the subset is connected to a cathode of an adjacent laser emitter of the subset. A driver transistor of the plurality of driver transistors is configured to control a current flowing through the string.

A laser diode includes a semiconductor structure of a lower Bragg reflector layer, an active region, and an upper Bragg reflector layer. The upper Bragg reflector layer includes a lasing aperture having an optical axis oriented perpendicular to a surface of the active region. The active region includes a first material, and the lower Bragg reflector layer includes a second material, where respective lattice structures of the first and second materials are independent of one another. Related laser arrays and methods of fabrication are also discussed.