Abstract: An electronic/photonic integrated circuit in which grating-outcoupled surface-emitting lasers are used both to provide external emission out of the plane of the chip (through gratings), and also to feed optical power into photonic waveguides parallel to the plane of the chip. Transistors are fabricated in a common multilayer semiconductor body with the lasers.

Abstract: A laser diode system that has two distributed Bragg reflector reflectors at either end and an outcoupling aperture between the reflectors. The quantum wells in the active region are thicker in the gain region than in other parts of the device, increasing efficiency and lowering threshold current.

Abstract: Two or more laser diodes are combined by crossing their cavities, and the multiple lasers share a common outcoupling aperture. By controlling the quantum wells in the active region, crosstalk between the devices can be eliminated. The multiple devices can also be made to crosstalk, and can be made coherent with respect to one another by mixing enough photons to phase lock the devices.

Abstract: An array of VCSELs is made to operate coherently by coupling light to and from all elements with a common waveguide. The common waveguide can be fabricated on the wafer or separately, and allows enough optical power to mix between the individual lasers for phase-locking to occur.

Abstract: A modulation technique for optical signals. A laser diode having an outcoupling grating in the waveguide between two reflectors is provided. A second waveguide is positioned next to the first waveguide. The first end of the second waveguide is optically connected to the first waveguide on one side of the outcoupling grating, while the second end of the second waveguide is optically connected to the first waveguide on the other side of the outcoupling grating. Switches are provided that control the amount of light coupled between the waveguides. For example, when the switches are in a first state, no light is coupled between the two waveguides, and all the light stays in the laser diode or is coupled out of the outcoupling grating, while none of the light couples into the second grating; and when the switches are in a second state, some or all of the light from the first waveguide is coupled into the second waveguide. By toggling the states of the switches, the light emitted from the laser diode is modulated.

Abstract: A system capable of creating multiple beams of light using laterally coupled waveguides. Each beam is of a different central wavelength, capable of being generated on chip and coupled into a single fiber, and emitted from a single outcoupling grating (OCG). The present innovations can be used to create a multiple wavelength source generating multiple signals of different wavelengths simultaneously. The present innovations can also function as a tunable laser source system, capable of generating one of many different wavelength signals at a time. Waveguides are laterally coupled through, for example, evanescent coupling. The degree of coupling is controlled by varying the voltage applied to contacts attached to the waveguides at the coupling region.