Ring cavity laser

• US 6,282,226 B1
• Filed: 07/09/1999
• Issued: 08/28/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Furukawa, Yukio
• Primary Examiner(s): Davie, James W.
• Application Number:
  US09/349,472
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 372/94, 372/92, 372/93
• US Class Current: 372/94
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/14 Semiconductor lasers with special structural design for lasing in a specific polarisation mode
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0207 Substrates having a special shape
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/10 Construction or shape of the optical resonator , e.g. extended or external cavity, coupled cavities, bent-guide, varying width, thickness or composition of the active region H01S5/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/1042 Optical microcavities, e.g. cavity dimensions comparable to the wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/1071 Ring-lasers
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/1082 with a special facet structure, e.g. structured, non planar, oblique
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/3202 grown on specifically orientated substrates, or using orientation dependent growth

Abstract

A ring cavity laser has a polyhedral structure contoured by a plurality of planes, and includes a ring cavity having reflective faces formed by the planes of the polyhedral structure, and an active medium. The ring cavity laser is constructed such that there exists a three-dimensional light path among light paths of the ring cavity through which light pumped in the active medium travels when the light starts at a point on one reflective face, is reflected by each reflective face and returns to the starting point.

Claims

1. A ring cavity laser comprising:

a ring cavity, said ring cavity having reflective faces formed by a plurality of planes of a polyhedral structure; and

an active region formed in said ring cavity,

wherein said ring cavity is constructed such that there exists a three-dimensional light path among light paths of said ring cavity through which light pumped in said active region travels when the light starts at a point on one reflective face, is reflected by each other reflective face and returns to the starting point.

2. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, said ring cavity being constructed such that light is totally reflected at at least one reflective point of the reflective points in the three-dimensional light path.

3. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, said ring cavity being constructed such that light is totally reflected at all the reflective points in the three-dimensional light path.

4. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, said polyhedral structure comprising a tetrahedron.

5. A ring cavity laser according to claim 4, said polyhedral structure comprising a regular tetrahedron.

6. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, said polyhedral structure being formed of semiconductor.

7. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being formed of semiconductor of zinc blende type crystalline structure.

8. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said semiconductor polyhedral structure including three {111}B faces.

9. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said semiconductor polyhedral structure including three {111}A faces.

10. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said semiconductor polyhedral structure including three {110} faces.

11. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being constructed by performing a selective growth on a substrate having a principal plane of a (111)A face, and contoured by semiconductor faces of ({overscore (1)}11)B, (1{overscore (1)}1)B and (11{overscore (1)})B faces appearing during the selective growth.

12. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being constructed by performing a selective growth on a substrate having a principal plane of a (111)B face, and contoured by semiconductor faces of ({overscore (11)}1)A, ({overscore (1)}1{overscore (1)})A and (1{overscore (11)})A faces appearing during the selective growth.

13. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being constructed by performing a selective etching of a substrate having a principal plane of a (111)B face, and contoured by semiconductor faces of ({overscore (11)}1)A, ({overscore (1)}1{overscore (1)})A and (1{overscore (11)})A faces appearing during the etching process.

14. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being constructed by performing a selective growth on a substrate having a principal plane of a (111)A face, and contoured by semiconductor faces of (011), (101) and (110) faces appearing during the selective growth.

15. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, said polyhedral structure being constructed by performing a selective growth on a substrate having a principal plane of a (111)B face, and contoured by semiconductor faces of (0{overscore (11)}), ({overscore (1)}0{overscore (1)}) and ({overscore (11)}0) faces appearing during the selective growth.

16. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, at least one reflective face of said ring cavity comprising a multi-layer reflector.

17. A ring cavity laser according to claim 16, at least one reflective face of said ring cavity comprising a semiconductor multi-layer reflector.

18. A ring cavity laser according to claim 16, at least one reflective face of said ring cavity comprising a dielectric multi-layer reflector.

19. A ring cavity laser according to claim 6, further comprising a semiconductor substrate on which said ring cavity is formed, and a buried material with which said reflective faces other than said reflective face on said semiconductor substrate are covered and whose index of refraction is smaller than an index of refraction of said semiconductor of said ring cavity such that a total reflection condition is met.

20. A ring cavity laser according to claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor substrate which has a face inclining toward a predetermined direction by a predetermined angle from one of (111)A and (111)B faces.