Provided is a semiconductor laser device including a plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC that are capable of being independently driven, and a spatial light modulator SLM that is optically coupled to a group of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC. Each of the semiconductor laser units includes a pair of clad layers having an active layer 4 interposed therebetween, and a diffractive lattice layer 6 that is optically coupled to the active layer 4. The semiconductor laser device includes a ¼ wavelength plate 26 that is disposed between a group of the active layers 4 of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC and a reflection film 23, and a polarizing plate 27 that is disposed between the group of the active layers 4 of the plurality of semiconductor laser units LDC and a light emitting surface.

A high speed spatial light modulators are described. In one non-limiting example, an optical phased array structure comprises a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that provides a light beam and a phase delay unit that includes a bi-layer photonic crystal slab. The bi-layer photonic crystal slab (PCS) is attached to the VCSEL and comprises two silicon PCS layers separated by a dielectric layer. The optical phased array structure is configured to control a direction of the light beam by a voltage applied to the phase delay unit. By incorporating a dispersive layer (e.g. graphene), the absorption of the structure can be modulated and accordingly the reflection of the surface can be modulated as well.

An addressable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array may generate structured light in dot patterns. The VCSEL array includes a plurality of traces that control different groups of VCSELs, such that each group of VCSELs may be individually controlled. The VCSEL groups are arranged such that they emit a dot pattern, and by modulating which groups of VCSELs are active a density of the dot pattern may be adjusted. The VCSEL array may be part of a depth projector that projects the dot pattern into a local area. A projection assembly may replicate the dot pattern in multiple tiles.

A semiconductor light-emitting module according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements each outputting light of a desired beam projection pattern; and a support substrate holding the plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements. Each of the plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements includes a phase modulation layer configured to form a target beam projection pattern in a target beam projection region. The plurality of semiconductor light-emitting elements include first and second semiconductor light-emitting elements that are different in terms of at least any of a beam projection direction, the target beam projection pattern, and a light emission wavelength.

A two-dimensional photonic-crystal laser formed by sandwiching, between a first electrode and a second electrode, a layered body including an active layer and a two-dimensional photonic-crystal layer in which modified refractive index areas having a refractive index different from a refractive index of a plate-shaped base body are periodically arranged two-dimensionally on the base body. The first electrode is divided into a plurality of partial electrodes, and the second electrode is a frame-shaped electrode including a frame-shaped portion made of a conductor, the second electrode having a window portion which is a space inside the frame-shaped portion being arranged to face a region enclosing a plurality of the partial electrodes. A lens provided on the side opposite to the layered body of the second electrode in a manner covering the entire window portion is included.

A soldering system that determines soldering quality of elements relative to a housing at the moment of soldering semiconductor laser elements. A soldering device that performs soldering of a semiconductor laser element to a semiconductor laser module, a robot that conveys the module, a camera, and a control device that controls the robot and camera based on imaging output of the camera. The robot conveys the module and changes the position and posture of the camera. The camera images the module. The control device calculates the position of the semiconductor laser element based on the imaging output, calculates parallelism between the housing of the module and the semiconductor laser element based on the change in light intensity related to the imaging output when changing the relative position between the camera and the subject, and determines the quality of soldering of the semiconductor laser element based on the position and parallelism.

Systems and methods for etching complex patterns on an interior surface of a hollow object are disclosed. A method generally includes positioning a laser system within the hollow object with a focal point of the laser focused on the interior surface, and operating the laser system to form the complex pattern on the interior surface. Motion of the laser system and the hollow object is controlled by a motion control system configured to provide rotation and/or translation about a longitudinal axis of one or both of the hollow object and the laser system based on the complex pattern, and change a positional relationship between a reflector and a focusing lens of the laser system to accommodate a change in distance between the reflector and the interior surface of the hollow object.

An addressable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array may generate structured light in dot patterns. The VCSEL array includes a plurality of traces that control different groups of VCSELs, such that each group of VCSELs may be individually controlled. The VCSEL groups are arranged such that they emit a dot pattern, and by modulating which groups of VCSELs are active a density of the dot pattern may be adjusted. The VCSEL array may be part of a depth projector that projects the dot pattern into a local area. A projection assembly may replicate the dot pattern in multiple tiles.

This semiconductor laser device includes a semiconductor laser chip and a spatial light modulator SLM optically coupled to the semiconductor laser chip. The semiconductor laser chip LDC includes an active layer 4, a pair of cladding layers 2 and 7 sandwiching the active layer 4, a diffraction grating layer 6 optically coupled to the active layer 4, and a drive electrode E3 that is disposed between the cladding layer 2 and the spatial light modulator SLM and supplies an electric current to the active layer 4, and the drive electrode E3 is positioned within an XY plane and has a plurality of openings as viewed from a Z-axis direction and has a non-periodic structure.

A VCSEL can include: an electro-optic modulator between a lasing active region and a light emitting surface. The electro-optic modulator can include: an electro-optically active region; a modulator mirror region over the electro-optically active region; and at least one electrical insulator region separating the modulator mirror region into at least two separate modulator mirror cavities electrically isolated from each other, wherein each separate modulator mirror cavity and a longitudinally aligned portion of the electro-optically active region form an electro-optic modulator cavity. A method of emitting light from a VCSEL can include: emitting a laser beam from the lasing active region along a longitudinal axis; and changing a refractive index of one electro-optic modulator cavity so as to steer the laser beam from the longitudinal axis.