A semiconductor light source including a planar optical component that focuses long-wavelength (e.g., infrared) light emitted in a resonant cavity into a nonlinear crystal, which then converts the long-wavelength light into light having a shorter wavelength (e.g., visible light) by frequency doubling. A wavelength-selective reflection layer on the nonlinear crystal reflects the long-wavelength light back into the resonant cavity to form an external cavity and transmits the light having the shorter wavelength out of the external cavity. The resonant cavity includes an active region that emits the long-wavelength light at a high efficiency. The planar optical component includes a micro-lens formed in semiconductor layers or a gradient refractive index lens formed in the nonlinear crystal.

A pixel structure for a vertical cavity surface emitting laser has an emission window. The pixel structure includes a plurality of sub-pixels in the emission window. Bright-area sub-pixels emit light and dark-area sub-pixels having no light emission. The bright-area sub-pixels and the dark-area sub-pixels are arranged in a pattern in the emission window. Various patterns are possible. Different structures for implementing the sub-pixels are described.

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser includes a substrate. A first mirror is disposed on the substrate. An active layer is disposed on the first mirror. An oxide layer is disposed on the active layer. An aperture is disposed on the active layer. The aperture is surrounded by the oxide layer. A second mirror is disposed on the aperture and the oxide layer. A high-contrast grating is disposed on the second mirror. The high-contrast grating includes a first grating element and a second grating element, and the first grating element and the second grating element are spaced apart from each other with an air gap therebetween. A passivation layer is disposed on the high-contrast grating. A first thickness of the passivation layer on a top surface of the first grating element is greater than a second thickness of the passivation layer on a first sidewall of the first grating element.

An optical chip may include a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) structure. The optical chip may include a capacitor over at least a portion of an active layer of the VCSEL structure that is outside of an active region of the VCSEL structure. The capacitor may include a first metal layer over the portion of the active layer, a dielectric layer on the first metal layer, and a second metal layer on the dielectric layer. The optical chip may include an isolation region between a substrate of the VCSEL and a portion of the capacitor outside of the VCSEL.

In some implementations, a surface emitting laser may have an emitter design with a short oxidation length and/or a large number of trenches. For example, the surface emitting laser may comprise a metallization layer comprising multiple extended portions extending outwards from a circumference of an inner ring portion, and multiple tabs extending laterally from the multiple extended portions in a partial ring shape. The surface emitting laser may further comprise multiple via openings connecting the metallization layer to a plating metal, where each via opening is positioned over a corresponding tab, of the multiple tabs. The surface emitting laser may comprise multiple oxidation trenches that are each formed in an angular gap between a pair of extended portions, of the multiple extended portions, such that the multiple tabs and the multiple via openings are exclusively outside outer radii of the multiple oxidation trenches.

In some implementations, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) device may include a substrate layer and a set of epitaxial layers disposed on the substrate layer. The set of epitaxial layers may include a first mirror and a second mirror. At least one of the first mirror or the second mirror may include at least one reflector pair that includes a semiconductor material layer and an oxidized semiconductor material layer. The set of epitaxial layers may include an oxidation trench axially extending into at least the second mirror, an active region between the first mirror and the second mirror, and an oxidation layer with an oxidation aperture.

A wafer may comprise a substrate layer and a plurality of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) formed on or within the substrate layer. A respective trench-to-trench distance associated with the plurality of VCSELs may vary across the wafer based on a predicted variation of an oxidation rate of an oxidation layer across the wafer.

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is provided that includes a mesa structure disposed on a substrate. The mesa structure defines an emission axis of the VCSEL. The mesa structure includes a first reflector, a second reflector, and a cascaded active region structure disposed between the first reflector and the second reflector. The cascaded active region structure includes a plurality of cascaded active region layers disposed along the emission axis, where each of the cascade active region layers includes an active region having multi-quantum well and/or dots layers (MQLs), a tunnel junction aligned with the emission axis, and an oxide confinement layer. The oxide confinement layer is disposed between the tunnel junction and MQLs, and has an electrical current aperture defined therein. The mesa structure defines an optical window through which the VCSEL is configured to emit light.

There is provided a semiconductor laser including: a first mirror layer; a second mirror layer; an active layer; a current confinement layer; a first region including a plurality of first oxidized layers; and a second region including a plurality of second oxidized layers, in which, in a plan view, the laminated body includes a first part including the first region and the second region, a second part including the first region and the second region, and a third part disposed between the first part and the second part and resonating light generated in the active layer, the third part includes a fourth part including the first region and the second region and having a first groove, a fifth part including the first region and the second region and having a second groove, and a sixth part disposed between the fourth part and the fifth part and sandwiched between the first part and the second part, in a plan view.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) may include an epitaxial structure that includes a first active layer, a second active layer, and a tunnel junction therebetween. The VCSEL may include a set of contacts that are electrically connected to the epitaxial structure. The set of contacts may include three or more contacts, and the set of contacts may be electrically separated from each other on the VCSEL. At least one contact, of the set of contacts, may be electrically connected to the epitaxial structure at a depth between the first active layer and the second active layer.