A laser arrangement includes a laser array including a plurality of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting lasers and an optical structure including a diffuser arranged to change a distribution of the laser light. The optical structure is configured to transform the laser light to transformed laser light such that an overlap of the emission cones of at least a group of the plurality of lasers is increased in field-of-view in comparison to perfectly collimated laser light diffused to a flat-top intensity profile in the field-of-view. The optical structure is arranged to redirect the laser light emitted at angles of the emission cone to the field-of-view so as to increase the overlap of the emitted laser light in the field-of-view. The optical structure is also configured to provide a slope angle of an intensity profile along a direction of the field-of-view that is smaller than a divergence angle of the laser.

The present disclosure describes techniques to improve the resolution and reduce the distortion of structured light projection in miniature wide-angle VCSEL array projection modules used for 3D imaging and gesture recognition. The projector module includes a chief ray corrector optical element, which directs the VCSEL beams along the projector lens chief ray paths. The VCSEL structured illumination projector using the chief ray optical element corrector can create a high resolution, low distortion structured light pattern over an extended distance range greater that the projector lens image focal range. The corrector element is placed close to the VCSEL array. The corrector element can be implemented in various ways including, for example, a refractive lens, diffractive lens or microlens array, depending on the specific application requirements and optical configurations.

A semiconductor laser and a method for producing such a semiconductor laser are disclosed. In an embodiment a semiconductor laser has at least one surface-emitting semiconductor laser chip including a semiconductor layer sequence having at least one active zone configured to generate laser radiation and a light exit surface oriented perpendicular to a growth direction of the semiconductor layer sequence. The laser further includes a diffractive optical element configured to expand and distribute the laser radiation, wherein an optically active structure of the diffractive optical element is made of a material having a refractive index of at least 1.65 regarding a wavelength of maximum intensity of the laser radiation; and a connector engaging at least in places into the optically active structure and completely filling the optically active structure at least in places.

An optical device includes: a substrate having a first surface, and a second surface opposite of the first surface; a plurality of surface emitting laser elements provided on the first surface of the substrate and configured to emit light in a direction intersecting the first surface; a plurality of optical elements disposed on the second surface so as to respectively correspond to the plurality of surface emitting laser elements; and an anti-reflection structure between the substrate and the plurality of optical elements.

A light-emitting device includes a light diffusing member that diffuses light emitted from a light source so that an object to be measured is irradiated with the light; and a holding unit that is provided on plural wires connected to the light source and holds the light diffusing member.

Systems and methods disclosed herein include an illumination module for 3D sensing applications. The illumination module may include an array of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting light, a driver configured to provide current to the array of VCSELs, and an optical element configured to receive the light emitted by the array of VCSELs and output a light pattern from the illumination module.

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.

An example device may include a light source, an optical element, and, optionally, an encapsulant layer. A light beam generated by the light source may be received by the optical element and redirected towards an illumination target, such as an eye of a user. The optical element may include a material, for example, with a refractive index of at least approximately 2 at a wavelength of the light beam. The light source may be a semiconductor light source, such as a light-emitting diode or a laser. The optical element may be supported by an emissive surface of the light source. Refraction at an exit surface of the optical element, and/or within a metamaterial layer, may advantageously modify the beam properties, for example, in relation to illuminating a target. In some examples, the light source and optical element may be integrated into a monolithic light source module.

A sensing apparatus, an illumination system, and a data communication system including a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) or VCSEL array.

An optoelectronic device includes a semiconductor substrate having first and second faces. A first array of emitters are formed on the first face of the semiconductor substrate and are configured to emit respective beams of radiation through the substrate. Electrical connections are coupled to actuate selectively first and second sets of the emitters in the first array. A second array of microlenses are formed on the second face of the semiconductor substrate in respective alignment with the emitters in at least one of the first and second sets and are configured to focus the beams emitted from the emitters in the at least one of the first and second sets so that the beams are transmitted from the second face with different, respective first and second focal properties.