A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes a first laminate including first semiconductor layers having a first Al composition, and second semiconductor layers having a second Al composition greater than the first Al composition; a current confinement structure including a current aperture and a current blocker; a first compound semiconductor layer adjacent to the current confinement structure; and a second compound semiconductor layer adjacent to the first laminate and the first compound semiconductor layer. The first compound semiconductor layer has a first aluminum profile changing monotonously in a direction from the first laminate to the current confinement structure from a first minimum Al composition within a range greater than the first Al composition and smaller than the second Al composition to a first maximum Al composition. The second compound semiconductor layer has an Al composition greater than the first Al composition and smaller than the first maximum Al composition.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes: a supporting base having a principal surface including III-V compound semiconductor containing gallium and arsenic as constituent elements; and a post disposed on the principal surface. The post has a lower spacer region including a III-V compound semiconductor containing gallium and arsenic as group-III elements, and an active layer having a quantum well structure disposed on the lower spacer region. The quantum well structure has a concentration of carbon in a range of 210.sup.16 cm.sup.3 or more to 510.sup.16 cm.sup.3 or less. The quantum well structure includes a well layer and a barrier layer. The well layer includes a III-V compound semiconductor containing indium as a group-III element, and the barrier layer includes a III-V compound semiconductor containing indium and aluminum as group-III elements. The lower spacer region is disposed between the supporting base and the active layer.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes: an active layer including a quantum well structure including one or more well layers including a III-V compound semiconductor containing indium as a group III constituent element; an upper laminated region containing a carbon dopant; and a substrate for mounting a post including the active layer and the upper laminated region, in which the active layer is provided between the upper laminated region and the substrate, the quantum well structure has a carbon concentration of 210.sup.16 cm.sup.3 or less, and the upper laminated region includes a pile-up layer of indium at a position away from the active layer.

A semiconductor optical amplifier includes a conductive region that is provided on a substrate and allows light transmission, and a nonconductive region that is provided around the conductive region and prohibits light transmission. The conductive region includes a first region including a light-coupling portion to which light from an external light-source unit is coupled, and a second region having a narrower width than the first region and connected to the first region through a connecting portion, the second region including a light-amplifying portion amplifying the light from the light-coupling portion by propagating the light in a predetermined propagating direction along a surface of the substrate, the light-amplifying portion outputting the amplified light in a direction intersecting the surface of the substrate. Seen in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate, the semiconductor optical amplifier includes a portion where a width of the conductive region is continuously reduced from the first region to the second region.

The present invention relates to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a manufacturing method thereof, and more specifically, to a high-efficiency oxide VCSEL which emits laser beams having a peak wavelength of 860 nm, and a manufacturing method thereof.

A semiconductor laser device lases in a multiple transverse mode and includes a stacked structure where a first conductivity-side semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity-side semiconductor layer are stacked above a substrate. The second conductivity-side semiconductor layer includes a current block layer having an opening that delimits a current injection region. Side faces as a pair are formed in portions of the stacked structure that range from part of the first conductivity-side semiconductor layer to the second conductivity-side semiconductor layer. The active layer has a second width greater than a first width of the opening. The side faces in at least part of the first conductivity-side semiconductor layer are inclined to the substrate. A maximum intensity position in a light distribution of light guided in the stacked structure, in a direction of the normal to the substrate, is within the first conductivity-side semiconductor layer.

The present embodiment relates to a light emission device capable of removing zero-order light from output light of an S-iPM laser. The light emission device comprises an active layer and a phase modulation layer. The phase modulation layer includes a base layer and a plurality of modified refractive index regions. In a state in which a virtual square lattice is set on the phase modulation layer, a center of gravity of each modified refractive index region is separated from a corresponding lattice point, and a rotation angle around each lattice point that decides a position of the center of gravity of each modified refractive index region is set according to a phase distribution for forming an optical image. A lattice spacing and an emission wavelength satisfy a condition of M-point oscillation in a reciprocal lattice space of the phase modulation layer. A magnitude of at least one of in-plane wavenumber vectors in four directions formed in the reciprocal lattice space and each including a wavenumber spread corresponding to an angle spread of the output light is smaller than 2/.

The present technology provides a surface emitting laser capable of stabilizing emission characteristics against change in driving temperature.

The present technology provides a surface emitting laser including: first and second multilayer film reflectors; a plurality of active regions stacked between the first and second multilayer film reflectors; and a tunnel junction disposed between at least one set of two adjacent active regions, in which the plurality of active regions includes at least two of the active regions in which peak wavelengths of emission spectra are different from each other. According to the present technology, a surface emitting laser capable of stabilizing emission characteristics against change in driving temperature is provided.

A surface-emitting laser array includes a plurality of light emitting parts. Each light emitting part includes a reflection mirror including aluminum gallium arsenide (Al.sub.xGa.sub.(1-x)As) where x is greater than 0.95 but less than or equal to 1; an active layer; and an electrode surrounding an emission region, from which laser light is emitted, the electrode covering a region between adjacent light emitting parts in the plurality of light emitting parts.

A frequency comb generator including a semiconductor, wherein the semiconductor outputs a frequency comb in response to frequency mixing of an optical field and at terahertz field in the semiconductor using a high order sideband (HSG) mechanism. The frequency comb spans a bandwidth sufficient for self-referencing and may be used in optical clock applications, for example.