[Object] To provide a vertical cavity surface emitting laser element having excellent electric responsiveness and high productivity and reliability, a method of producing the vertical cavity surface emitting laser element, and a photoelectric conversion apparatus.

[Solving Means] A vertical cavity surface emitting laser element according to the present technology includes: a semiconductor stacked body. The semiconductor stacked body is a semiconductor stacked body that includes a first mirror having a first conductive type, a second mirror that has a second conductive type and causes optical resonance together with the first mirror, an active layer provided between the first mirror and the second mirror, and a confinement layer that is provided between the first mirror and the second mirror and has a non-oxidized region and an oxidized region, the non-oxidized region being formed of a first material, the oxidized region being provided around the non-oxidized region and being formed of a second material obtained by oxidizing the first material, and has a mesa having an outer peripheral surface from which end surfaces of the active layer and the confinement layer are exposed and an ion implantation region that is a region into which ions have been implanted, is formed to reach a predetermined depth in the active layer and the confinement layer from the outer peripheral surface, and is separated from the non-oxidized region.

An optoelectronic semiconductor device is disclosed wherein the device is a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser or a photodiode containing a section, the top part of which is electrically isolated from the rest of the device. The electric isolation can be realized by etching a set of holes and selective oxidation of AlGaAs layer or layers such that the oxide forms a continuous layer or layers everywhere beneath the top surface of this section. Alternatively, a device can be grown epitaxially on a semi-insulating substrate, and a round trench around a section of the device can be etched down to the semi-insulating substrate thus isolating this section electrically from the rest of the device. Then if top contact pads are deposited on top of the electrically isolated section, the pads have a low capacitance, and a pad capacitance below two hundred femto-Farads, and the total capacitance of the device below three hundred femto-Farads can be reached.

A VCSEL illuminator module includes a module forming a physical cavity having electrical contacts positioned on an inner surface of the module that feed through the module to electrical contacts positioned on an outer surface of the module. A VCSEL device is positioned on the inner surface module and includes electrical contacts that are electrically connected to the electrical contacts on the inner surface of the module. The VCSEL device generates an optical beam when current is applied to the electrical contacts. An optical element is positioned adjacent to an emitting surface of the VCSEL device and is configured to modify the optical beam generated by the VCSEL device.

An emitter may include a substrate, a conductive layer on at least a bottom surface of a trench, and a first metal layer to provide a first electrical contact of the emitter on an epitaxial side of the substrate. The first metal layer may be within the trench such that the first metal layer contacts the conductive layer within the trench. The emitter may further include a second metal layer to provide a second electrical contact of the emitter on the epitaxial side of the substrate, and an isolation implant to block lateral current flow between the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact.

Optoelectronic device undergoes selective chemical transformation like alloy compositional intermixing forming a non-transformed core region and an adjacent to it periphery where transformation has occurred. Activated by selective implantation or diffusion of impurities like Zinc or Silicon, implantation or diffusion of point defects, or laser annealing, transformation results in a change of the refractive index such that the vertical profile of the refractive index at the periphery is distinct from that in the core. Therefore the optical modes of the core are no longer orthogonal to the modes of the periphery, are optically coupled to them and exhibit lateral leakage losses to the periphery. High order transverse optical modes associated to the same vertical optical mode have higher lateral leakage losses to the periphery than the fundamental transverse optical mode, thus supporting single transverse mode operation of the device. This approach applies to single transverse mode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, edge-emitting lasers and coherently coupled arrays of such devices.

A method of fabricating at least one radiation emitter including fabricating a layer stack that includes a first reflector, an active region, an oxidizable layer, and a second reflector; and locally removing the layer stack, and thereby forming at least one mesa. The mesa includes the first reflector, the active region, the oxidizable layer and the second reflector. Before or after locally removing the layer stack and forming the mesa the following steps are carried out: vertically etching at least three blind holes inside the layer stack, wherein the blind holes vertically extend to and expose the oxidizable layer; and oxidizing the oxidizable layer via the sidewalls of the blind holes in lateral direction. An oxidation front radially moves outwards from each hole. The etching is terminated before the entire oxidizable layer is oxidized, thereby forming at least one unoxidized aperture that is limited by at least three oxidation fronts.

A method of fabricating a radiation emitter including fabricating a layer stack that includes a first reflector, at least one intermediate layer, an active region and a second reflector; locally oxidizing the intermediate layer and thereby forming at least one unoxidized aperture; and locally removing the layer stack, and thereby forming a mesa that includes the first reflector, the unoxidized aperture, the active region, and the second reflector. Before or after locally removing the layer stack and forming the mesa: forming at least a first unoxidized aperture and at least a second unoxidized aperture inside the intermediate layer; etching a trench inside the layer stack, the trench defining a first portion and a second portion of the mesa, wherein the trench severs the intermediate layer(s) so that the first aperture is located in the first portion and the second aperture is located in the second portion of the mesa.

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 laser structure comprising a first photonic crystal surface emitting laser (PCSEL), a second PCSEL, and a coupling region that extends between the first PCSEL and the second PCSEL along a longitudinal axis and that is electrically controllable so as to be capable of coherently coupling the first PCSEL to the second PCSEL. Each PCSEL include an active layer, a photonic crystal, and a two-dimensional periodic array distributed in an array plane parallel to the longitudinal axis within the photonic crystal where the two-dimensional periodic array is formed of regions having a refractive index that is different to the surrounding photonic crystal.

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes a substrate that has a main surface including a first area and a second area, a post that is provided on or above the first area, and that includes a first-conductive first distributed Bragg reflector provided on or above the first area, an active layer provided on the first distributed Bragg reflector, and a second-conductive second distributed Bragg reflector provided on the active layer, a stack that is provided on or above the main surface, and that includes an upper surface having at least one recess portion disposed above the second area, a resin portion that is disposed in the at least one recess portion, and an electrode pad that is provided on the resin portion and that is electrically connected to either one of the first distributed Bragg reflector and the second distributed Bragg reflector.