SEMICONDUCTOR LASER DEVICE

• US 20170338624A1
• Filed: 12/24/2015
• Published: 11/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK
• Original Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK
• Inventors: TAKIGUCHI, Yuu, HIROSE, Kazuyoshi, KUROSAKA, Yoshitaka, SUGIYAMA, Takahiro, NOMOTO, Yoshiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,948,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1313 specially adapted for a particular application
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 1/2286 Particular reconstruction light G03H1/24 takes precedence; Beam properties
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 1/2294 Addressing the hologram to an active spatial light modulator
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2001/0224 Active addressable light modulator, i.e. Spatial Light Modulator [SLM]
• CPC Class Codes: G03H 2222/12 Single or narrow bandwidth source, e.g. laser, light emitting diode [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/02 ASE (amplified spontaneous emission), noise; Reduction thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/20 Lasers with a special output beam profile or cross-section, e.g. non-Gaussian
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 3/1065 using liquid crystals
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0225 Out-coupling of light
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/026 Monolithically integrated components, e.g. waveguides, monitoring photo-detectors, drivers stabilisation of output H01S5/06
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/04253 having specific optical properties, e.g. transparent electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0624 controlling the near- or far field
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/06243 controlling the position or direction of the emitted beam
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/11 Comprising a photonic bandgap structure
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/14 External cavity lasers H01S5/18 takes precedence; mode locking H01S5/065
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18302 comprising an integrated optical modulator
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18361 Structure of the reflectors, e.g. hybrid mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/185 having only horizontal cavities, e.g. horizontal cavity surface-emitting lasers [HCSEL] comprising a photonic bandgap structure H01S5/11
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/34313 with a well layer having only As as V-compound, e.g. AlGaAs, InGaAs
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/34353 based on (AI)GaAs

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. A semiconductor laser device that comprises a semiconductor laser chip and a spatial light modulator optically coupled to the semiconductor laser chip, and modulates a laser beam output along a thickness direction of the semiconductor laser chip by the spatial light modulator and outputs the laser beam to the outside, wherein

the semiconductor laser chip includes:

an active layer;

a pair of cladding layers sandwiching the active layer;

a diffractive grating layer optically coupled to the active layer; and

a drive electrode that is disposed between the cladding layer on the spatial light modulator side and the spatial light modulator, and supplies an electric current to the active layer, and

in a case where an XYZ three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system is set,

a thickness direction of the semiconductor laser chip is set as a Z-axis direction, and

a plane parallel to an interface between the semiconductor laser chip and the spatial light modulator is set as an XY plane,

the drive electrode is positioned within the XY plane,

the drive electrode has a plurality of openings as viewed from the Z-axis direction, and

the drive electrode has a non-periodic structure.

2. The semiconductor laser device according to claim 1, wherein

the drive electrode includes a plurality of conductive regions linearly extending along a first direction within the XY plane, and

when widths of the conductive regions in the X-axis direction are Xe,

intervals between the conductive regions in the X-axis direction are Xs,

N is an integer,

a width Xe of the conductive region positioned N-th along the X-axis direction is Xe(N), and

an interval Xs positioned N-th along the X-axis direction is Xs(N),

the widths Xe are not periodic, Xe(N) and Xe(N+1) are different from each other,

the intervals Xs are not periodic, and Xs(N) and Xs(N+1) are different from each other.

3. The semiconductor laser device according to claim 1, wherein

the drive electrode has a shape in which

a plurality of first conductive regions extending along a first direction and

a plurality of second conductive regions extending along a second direction different from the first direction

overlap so as to form a plurality of openings two-dimensionally positioned within the XY plane, and

when widths of the first conductive regions in the X-axis direction are Xe1,

intervals between the first conductive regions in the X-axis direction are Xs1,

N is an integer,

a width Xe1 of the first conductive region positioned Nth along the X-axis direction is Xe1(N), and

an interval Xs1 positioned N-th along the X-axis direction is Xs1(N),

the widths Xe1 are not periodic, Xe1(N) and Xe1(N+1) are different from each other,

the intervals Xs1 are not periodic, and Xs1(N) and Xs1(N+1) are different from each other.

4. The semiconductor laser device according to claim 3, wherein both or either of the first conductive regions and the second conductive regions extend in arcs.

5. The semiconductor laser device according to claim 1, wherein

the drive electrode has a shape in which

a plurality of first conductive regions extending along a first direction,

a plurality of second conductive regions extending along a second direction different from the first direction, and

a plurality of third conductive regions extending along a third direction different from both of the first direction and the second direction

overlap so as to form a plurality of openings two-dimensionally positioned within the XY plane.

6. The semiconductor laser device according to claim 1, wherein

a region in which the drive electrode is provided includes

a first region in which a conductive region having a first non-periodic structure is fainted and

a second region in which a conductive region having a second non-periodic structure different from the first non-periodic structure is formed.