A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes: a substrate; a first mirror layer; an active layer; a second mirror layer; a current constriction layer; a first area connected to the first mirror layer and including a plurality of oxide layers; and a second area connected to the second mirror layer and including a plurality of oxide layers. The first mirror layer, the active layer, the second mirror layer, the current constriction layer, the first area, and the second area configure a laminated body. The laminated body includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion between the first portion and the second portion. When a width of the oxide area is W1 and a width of an upper surface of the first portion is W2, W2/W1≦3.3.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a first distributed Bragg reflector, a second distributed Bragg reflector, an active region with an oxide aperture between the first and second distributed Bragg reflectors, and a dielectric layer, where a positioning of the dielectric layer with respect to the first and second distributed Bragg reflectors and the oxide aperture causes suppression of higher modes of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes an active area, an inner trench, an outer trench, and a first implantation region. The active area includes a first mirror, an active region, a second mirror, and an etch stop layer. The first mirror is formed over a substrate. The active region is formed over the first mirror. The second mirror is formed over the active region. The etch stop layer with an aperture is formed between the active region and the second mirror. The inner trench surrounds the active area in a top view. The outer trench if formed beside the inner trench. The first implantation region is formed below the inner trench.

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) may include a substrate and a set of epitaxial layers on the substrate. The set of epitaxial layers may include a first mirror and a second mirror, an active region between the first mirror and the second mirror, and an oxidation layer to provide optical and electrical confinement in the VCSEL. The oxidation layer may be near the first mirror. The set of epitaxial layers may include an oxide lens to control a characteristic of an output beam emitted by the VCSEL. The oxide lens may be separate from the oxidation layer, and may be a lens that is separate from the first mirror and from the second mirror.

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 vertical cavity surface emitting device includes a substrate, a first multilayer film reflecting mirror formed on the substrate, a light-emitting structure layer formed on the first multilayer film reflecting mirror, the light-emitting structure layer including a light-emitting layer; and a second multilayer film reflecting mirror formed on the light-emitting structure layer, the second multilayer film reflecting mirror constituting a resonator between the first multilayer film reflecting mirror and the second multilayer film reflecting mirror. The light-emitting structure layer has a high resistance region and a low resistance region having an electrical resistance lower than an electrical resistance of the high resistance region. The low resistance region has a plurality of partial regions arranged into a ring shape while being separated by the high resistance region in a plane of the light-emitting structure layer.

A VCSEL includes an active region between a top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a bottom DBR each having alternating GaAs and AlGaAs layers. The active region includes quantum wells (QW) confined between top and bottom GaAs-containing current-spreading layers (CSL), an aperture layer having an optical aperture and a tunnel junction layer above the QW. A GaAs intermediate layer configured to have an open top air gap is disposed over a boundary layer of the active region and the top DBR. The air gap is made wider than the optical aperture and has a height equal to one quarter of VCSEL's emission wavelength in air. The top DBR is attached to the intermediate layer by applying wafer bonding techniques. VCSEL output, the air gap, and the optical aperture are aligned on the same optical axis. The bottom DBR is epitaxially grown on a silicon or a GaAs substrate.

An array of surface-emitting lasers is provided. The array outputs high brightness in a unipolar way. The array comprises a stress-adjustment unit and a plurality of epitaxial device units. The stress-adjustment unit is used to adjust stress. The stress from a substrate is used to select a laser mode for an aperture unit. The selection of the laser mode is enhanced for the aperture unit without sacrificing driving current. Low current operation is achieved in a single mode for effectively reducing volume and further minimizing the size of the whole array to achieve high-quality laser output. An object can be scanned by the outputted laser to obtain a clear image with a high resolution. Hence, the present invention is applicable for face recognition with high recognition and high security.

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 light emitting element of the present disclosure includes a compound semiconductor substrate 11, a stacked structure 20 including a GaN-based compound semiconductor, a first light reflection layer 41, and a second light reflection layer 42. The stacked structure 20 includes, in a stacked state a first compound semiconductor layer 21, an active layer 23, and a second compound semiconductor layer 22. The first light reflection layer 41 is disposed on the compound semiconductor substrate 11 and has a concave mirror section 43. The second light reflection layer 42 is disposed on a second surface side of the second compound semiconductor layer 22 and has a flat shape. The compound semiconductor substrate 11 includes a low impurity concentration compound semiconductor substrate or a semi-insulating compound semiconductor substrate.