Vertical cavity surface emitting laser device

• US 7,769,067 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2008
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Hori, Yuichiro, Okamoto, Kobei, Uchida, Mamoru, Nagatomo, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Dung T
• Application Number:
  US12/185,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20080298419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 372/50.11, 372/46.016, 372/50.124
• US Class Current: 372/50.11
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 2301/166 Single transverse or lateral mode
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/11 Comprising a photonic bandgap structure
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/183 having only vertical cavities, e.g. vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers [VCSEL]
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18308 having a special structure for lateral current or light confinement
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18358 containing spacer layers to adjust the phase of the light wave in the cavity
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/2063 obtained by particle bombardment

Abstract

A vertical cavity surface emitting laser device includes a first reflective mirror layer, a second reflective mirror layer, and an active layer disposed therebetween, wherein at least one of the first reflective mirror layer and the second reflective mirror layer includes a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction and a part of the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity.

Claims

1. A surface emitting laser device comprising:

a first reflective mirror;

a second reflective mirror having a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction of a plane opposing the first reflective mirror; and

an active layer disposed between the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure of the second reflective mirror, and

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is structured such that light incident on the periodic-refractive-index structure in the perpendicular direction to the in-plan direction of the periodic-refractive-index structure causes resonance in the in-plane direction and the light is emitted in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane direction,

wherein the second reflective mirror comprises a plurality of layers each having a periodic-refractive-index structure.

2. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is a two-dimensional photonic crystal structure.

3. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 2, wherein a defect level is present within a photonic bandgap of the two-dimensional photonic crystal structure corresponding to the parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure.

4. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure are positioned periodically or aperiodically in the in-plane direction of the second reflective mirror.

5. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure include light-emitting parts that are optically coupled with each other, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser device emits light in the single transverse mode.

6. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the first reflective mirror, the active layer, and the second reflective mirror having the periodic-refractive-index structure are disposed on a substrate in that order and the first reflective mirror comprises a multilayer film.

7. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the second reflective mirror, the active layer, and the first reflective mirror are disposed on a substrate in that order and the first reflective mirror comprises a multilayer film.

8. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the first reflective mirror, the active layer, and the second reflective mirror having the periodic-refractive-index structure are disposed on a substrate in that order and both the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror comprise a two-dimensional photonic crystal.

9. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the first reflective mirror, the active layer, the second reflective mirror having the periodic-refractive-index structure, and an electrode are disposed on a substrate in that order and the periodic-refractive-index structure is not provided in a part of the second reflective mirror disposed directly under the electrode.

10. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the first reflective mirror is a distributed Bragg reflector mirror comprising a multilayer film.

11. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 1, wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure comprises a two-dimensional photonic crystal and the parts that disorder the periodicity are defects.

12. A surface emitting laser device comprising:

a first reflective mirror;

a second reflective mirror having a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction of a plane opposing the first reflective mirror; and

an active layer disposed between the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure of the second reflective mirror, and

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is structured such that light incident on the periodic-refractive-index structure in the perpendicular direction to the in-plan direction of the periodic-refractive-index structure causes resonance in the in-plane direction and the light is emitted in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane direction,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure comprises a first medium and a second medium, the second medium having a refractive index higher than that of the first medium, and

wherein the device further comprises a layer comprising a medium having a refractive index lower than that of the second medium disposed between the second reflective mirror having the periodic-refractive-index structure and the active layer.

13. A surface emitting laser device comprising:

a first reflective mirror;

a second reflective mirror having a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction of a plane opposing the first reflective mirror; and

an active layer disposed between the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure of the second reflective mirror, and

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is structured such that light incident on the periodic-refractive-index structure in the perpendicular direction to the in-plan direction of the periodic-refractive-index structure causes resonance in the in-plane direction and the light is emitted in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane direction,

wherein the interval between the parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure is set so that the parts that disorder the periodicity serve as light-emitting parts and light components in each of the parts that disorder the periodicity are coupled with each other.

14. A surface emitting laser device comprising:

a first reflective mirror;

a second reflective mirror having aperiodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction of a plane opposing the first reflective mirror; and

an active layer disposed between the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure of the second reflective mirror, and

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is structured such that light incident on the periodic-refractive-index structure in the perpendicular direction to the in-plan direction of the periodic-refractive-index structure causes resonance in the in-plane direction and the light is emitted in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane direction,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure comprises a first area in which the parts that disorder the periodicity are disposed and a second area in which the parts that disorder the periodicity are not disposed, and the second area is positioned so as to surround the first area.

15. The surface emitting laser device according to claim 14, wherein the first area comprises a square lattice and the second area comprises a triangular lattice.

16. A surface emitting laser device comprising:

a first reflective mirror;

a second reflective mirror having a periodic-refractive-index structure in which the refractive index periodically changes in the in-plane direction of a plane opposing the first reflective mirror; and

an active layer disposed between the first reflective mirror and the second reflective mirror,

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure includes a plurality of parts that disorder the periodicity of the periodic-refractive-index structure of the second reflective mirror, and

wherein the periodic-refractive-index structure is structured such that light incident on the periodic-refractive-index structure in the perpendicular direction to the in-plan direction of the periodic-refractive-index structure causes resonance in the in-plane direction and the light is emitted in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane direction,

wherein an energy level of a plurality of parts that disorder the period is positioned within 50% from the center of a photonic bandgap of the periodic-refractive-index structure in a range between the center and the band edge of the photonic bandgap.