Vertical cavity surface emitting laser using photonic crystals
First Claim
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1. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser comprising:
- a lower mirror layer formed on a substrate, wherein the lower mirror layer comprises a lower photonic crystal having a cavity structure that includes one or more cavities and at least one distributed bragg reflector layer;
an upper mirror layer; and
an active region formed between the lower mirror layer and the upper mirror layer wherein photons are reflected between the lower mirror layer and the upper mirror layer through the active region.
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Abstract
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) using photonic crystals. Photonic crystals are formed such that the active region of the VCSEL is bounded by the photonic crystals. The photonic crystals have a periodic cavity structure that reflects light of certain wavelengths through the active region of the VCSEL such that laser light at the wavelengths is generated. Additional photonic crystals can be formed to increase the bandwidth of the VCSEL. The photonic crystals can also be combined with distributed bragg reflector layers to form the mirrors of a VCSEL.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser comprising:
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a lower mirror layer formed on a substrate, wherein the lower mirror layer comprises a lower photonic crystal having a cavity structure that includes one or more cavities and at least one distributed bragg reflector layer;
an upper mirror layer; and
an active region formed between the lower mirror layer and the upper mirror layer wherein photons are reflected between the lower mirror layer and the upper mirror layer through the active region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser comprising:
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a substrate;
a lower mirror layer formed on the substrate, wherein the lower mirror layer includes a plurality of distributed bragg reflector layers;
an active region formed on the lower mirror layer, wherein the active region is lattice matched to the lower mirror layer; and
an upper photonic crystal that is formed and lattice matched to the active region, wherein the upper photonic crystal includes a plurality of cavities, wherein light is reflected through the active region by the lower mirror layer and the upper photonic crystal such that laser light is produced at a wavelength that is related to a cavity structure of the upper photonic crystal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for fabricating vertical cavity surface emitting laser, the method comprising:
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forming a lower mirror layer on a substrate comprising one or more distributed bragg layers;
forming an active region on the first mirror layer; and
forming an upper mirror layer that includes an upper photonic crystal on the active region such that light is reflected through the active region by the lower mirror layer and the upper mirror layer, wherein a periodic cavity structure is formed in the upper photonic crystal. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
forming a lower photonic crystal on the one or more distributed bragg layers; and
forming a cavity structure in the lower photonic crystal, wherein the cavity structure of the lower photonic crystal is substantially the same as the cavity structure of the upper photonic crystal.
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25. A method as defined in claim 22, further comprising:
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forming an additional photonic crystal on either the upper photonic crystal or the lower photonic crystal; and
forming a cavity structure in the additional photonic crystal.
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26. A method as defined in claim 24, further comprising changing an index of either the lower photonic crystal or the upper photonic crystal by filling cavities with a material whose refractive index is different than a refractive index of either the lower photonic crystal or the upper photonic crystal.
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27. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein light with a wavelength of at least 1.3 microns is emitted by the vertical cavity surface emitting laser.
Specification