A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser for near-field illumination of an eye includes a semiconductor substrate, a first reflector, a mesa region, a first electrical contact, and a second electrical contact. The first reflector is disposed on a first side of the semiconductor substrate and the mesa region is disposed on the first reflector. The mesa region includes a second reflector and an active region, where the mesa region is configured to generate a diverging infrared beam. The first electrical contact is disposed on a second side of the semiconductor substrate, opposite the first side, for electrically coupling to the first reflector. The second electrical contact is also disposed on the second side of the semiconductor substrate for electrically coupling to the second reflector.

A light emitting element includes a stacked structure including, in a stacked state, a first light reflection layer 41 in which a plurality of thin films is stacked, a light emitting structure 20, and a second light reflection layer 42 in which a plurality of thin films is stacked. The light emitting structure includes a first compound semiconductor layer 21, an active layer 23 and, a second compound semiconductor layer 22 which are stacked. The light emitting structure 20 is formed with a light absorbing material layer 71 (32) in parallel to a virtual plane occupied by the active layer 23. Let the oscillation wavelength be .sub.0, let the equivalent refractive index from the active layer to the light absorbing material layer be n.sub.eq, let the optical distance from the active layer to the light absorbing material layer be L.sub.op, and let {(2m+1).sub.0}/(4n.sub.eq) (where m is an integer of equal to or more than 0), then, the value of L.sub.op is a value different from , and the thickness T.sub.ave of the second light reflection layer 42 is a value different from the theoretical thickness T.sub.DBR of the second light reflection layer 42.

A light-emitting element includes: a laminated structure body 20 which is formed from a GaN-based compound semiconductor and in which a first compound semiconductor layer 21 including a first surface 21a and a second surface 21b that is opposed to the first surface 21a, an active layer 23 that faces the second surface 21b of the first compound semiconductor layer 21, and a second compound semiconductor layer 22 including a first surface 22a that faces the active layer 23 and a second surface 22b that is opposed to the first surface 22a are laminated; a first light reflection layer 41 that is provided on the first surface 21a side of the first compound semiconductor layer 21; and a second light reflection layer 42 that is provided on the second surface 22b side of the second compound semiconductor layer 22. The first light reflection layer 41 includes a concave mirror portion 43, and the second light reflection layer 42 has a flat shape.

A LIDAR system includes a plurality of lasers that generate an optical beam having a FOV. A plurality of detectors are positioned where a FOV of at least one of the plurality of optical beams generated by the plurality of lasers overlaps a FOV of at least two of the plurality of detectors. The lens system collimates and projects the optical beams generated by the plurality of lasers. An actuator is coupled to at least one of the plurality of lasers and the lens system to cause relative motion between the plurality of lasers and the lens system in a direction that is orthogonal to an optical axis of the lens system so as to cause relative motion between the FOVs of the optical beams generated by the plurality of lasers and the FOVs of the detectors.

A segmented VCSEL array having a plurality of individually addressable segments, each segment comprising one or more VCSELs. In some cases, at least two of the plurality of individually addressable segments may be driven in combination. The plurality of individually addressable segments, in some embodiments, may be centered around the same central point. An optical element may be used in conjunction with the segmented VCSEL array, and in some cases may be aligned to the central point. The optical element may be configured such that light passing therethrough may be directed according to which of the plurality of individually addressable segments is activated. In some embodiments, the optical element is a grating or diffractive optical element. The grating or diffractive optical element could be patterned with optical segments that each correspond to at least one the plurality of individually addressable segments.

A VCSEL array has VCSELs on a semiconductor substrate and has a prismatic or Fresnel optical structure, which is arranged to transform laser light to provide a continuous illumination pattern in a reference plane. The optical structure increases a size of the illumination pattern in comparison to an untransformed illumination pattern. The optical structure is arranged such that each VCSEL illuminates a sector of the pattern. Sub-surfaces of the optical structure with different height above the semiconductor substrate are arranged next to each other. Each VCSEL is associated with a sub-surface. A distance between each VCSEL and a size of its sub-surface is arranged such that the VCSEL illuminates only a part of the sub-surface without illuminating one of the steps. The VCSEL array has an array of microlenses, each VCSEL being associated with a microlens arranged to collimate the laser light after traversing the optical structure.

Optical devices and methods of manufacturing and operating such optical devices. In an embodiment, an optical device includes a substrate, a multi-layer structure having a first surface in contact with a first surface of the substrate, a first mirror disposed over a second surface of the multi-layer structure, a second mirror disposed over a second surface of the substrate, an intermediate mirror within the multi-layer structure, and an optical gain structure within the multi-layer structure. The device may include a first optically resonant cavity within the multi-layer structure, bounded by the first mirror and the intermediate mirror, where the first optically resonant cavity includes the optical gain structure. The device may further include a second optically resonant cavity, bounded by the first and second mirrors, where the second optically resonant cavity includes the first optically resonant cavity, the second optically reflective layer, and the substrate.

A light emitting element array includes: a light emitting element group that includes plural light emitting elements; and plural lenses that are provided, corresponding to the plural light emitting elements, on a light emitting surface side of the plural light emitting elements, and that deflects light emitted from the plural light emitting elements according to a positional relation with the plural light emitting elements. Distances between central axes of light emission of the plural light emitting elements and central axes of the plural lenses corresponding to the plural light emitting elements increase from a center side of the light emitting element group toward an end side of the light emitting element group, and a degree of change in the distances decreases from the center side of the light emitting element group toward the end side of the light emitting element group.

A laser arrangement includes a laser array including a multitude of lasers and an optical device configured to provide a defined illumination pattern in a defined field-of-view. The optical device includes a multitude of localized optical structures, each respective localized optical structure being associated with at least one respective laser of the laser array and being arranged to redirect laser light emitted by the at least one respective laser such that laser light emitted by the at least one respective laser appears to be emitted from at least one apparent position of the laser array. The localized optical structures are arranged such that laser light emitted by at least one respective selected laser appears to be emitted from at least two apparent positions of the laser array. The optical device is arranged such that the apparent positions are distributed in an irregular pattern.

In some implementations, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) device includes a substrate layer and a first set of epitaxial layers for a bottom-emitting VCSEL disposed on the substrate layer. The first set of epitaxial layers may include a first set of mirrors and at least one first active layer. The VCSEL device may include a second set of epitaxial layers for a top-emitting VCSEL disposed on the first set of epitaxial layers for the bottom-emitting VCSEL. The second set of epitaxial layers may include a second set of mirrors and at least one second active layer. The top-emitting VCSEL and the bottom-emitting VCSEL may be configured to emit light in opposite light emission directions.