Patent · US Expired

Visible light surface emitting semiconductor laser

US5258990A · kind A · utility

73Cited by
18References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 7, 1991
Grant dateNov 2, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 7, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S2302/00
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is disclosed comprising a laser cavity sandwiched between two distributed Bragg reflectors. The laser cavity comprises a pair of spacer layers surrounding one or more active, optically emitting quantum-well layers having a bandgap in the visible which serve as the active optically emitting material of the device. The thickness of the laser cavity is m .lambda./2n.sub.eff where m is an integer, .lambda. is the free-space wavelength of the laser radiation and n.sub.eff is the effective index of refraction of the cavity. Electrical pumping of the laser is achieved by heavily doping the bottom mirror and substrate to one conductivity-type and heavily doping regions of the upper mirror with the opposite conductivity type to form a diode structure and applying a suitable voltage to the diode structure. Specific embodiments of the invention for generating red, green, and blue radiation are described.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.