Abstract: The present invention describes methods and apparatus for reliably assuring that correct mirror currents are selected during a channel switch to achieve the desired wavelength channel, based on feedback from either internal or external means combined with a mode map obtained at a time zero calibration.

Abstract: An optoelectronic device having one or more DBR mirrors having a low voltage drop across the mirror layers and a high reflectivity for emission at a nominal wavelength of 1300 nm below, at and above room temperature. The low resistance DBR may be used as a top output mirror of a tunnel junction VCSEL that reduces resistance and optical losses by reducing the amount of p-type material within the device.

Abstract: A vertical cavity apparatus includes first and second mirrors, a substrate and at least first and second active regions positioned between the first and second mirrors. At least one of the first and second mirrors is a fiber with a grating. At least a first tunnel junction is positioned between the first and second mirrors.

Abstract: The inventive optical module has a feeder line for electrically connecting a semiconductor laser with an electric signal input/output unit of a package. The feeder line has a dielectric substrate and a conductor film formed on the dielectric substrate, which consists of a material having thermal conductivity smaller than that of aluminum oxide. Thus obtained is an optical module capable of inhibiting a semiconductor laser from wavelength change caused by heat flowing into the same in a high-density wavelength division multiplex optical transmission system multiplexing a plurality of signals in an optical wavelength region in high density and transmitting the same.

Abstract: An optical fiber transmitter comprises an optically pumped single mode MQW VECSEL for emitting an information-carrying laser beam and has an external cavity length defining a comb of optical modes, each mode corresponding to a channel wavelength of an optical telecommunications system having plural optical channels. A semiconductor structure of the VECSEL has an optical-pump-excited multiple quantum well (MQW) homogeneously broadened gain region active over a band which is less than mode-to-mode spacing, the gain region being tunable to hop from a first mode to an adjacent second mode. A tuning arrangement tunes the VECSEL from mode to mode thereby to select each one of the plural optical channels. An optical modulator adds modulation to a beam emitting from the laser to provide the information-carrying laser beam, and a coupler couples the information-carrying laser beam into an optical fiber of the optical telecommunications system.

Abstract: A laser-based light source includes a laser (26), two optical detectors (27), a diffraction grating (29) mounted in a can (28), and a controlling circuit (31). A plurality of parallel grooves (293) is defined in a bottom face (292) of the diffraction grating. Each groove has a depth “d.” A groove separation “a” is defined between any two adjacent grooves. A groove cycle “b” is defined as a sum of the distance a and a width of any one groove. A light intensity of light beams depends on the values of “d”, “a” and “b”. By selecting a desired duty cycle f=a/b for the diffraction grating, the reflected light beams are converged into ±1 order light beams. Almost all the ±1 order light beams are collected by the optical detectors, notwithstanding variations in operational temperature. The controlling circuit receives feedback signals from the optical detectors.

Abstract: A distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser device has a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structure and a diffraction grating formed in the MQW structure. The diffraction grating includes a grating structure formed in QW layers and a barrier layer of the MQW structure and an embedded layer embedded in the grating structure. One of the QW layers and the barrier layers has an etching rate lower than the etching rate of the other layers of the MQW structure and functions as an etching stop layer during etching of the MQW structure for forming the diffraction grating.

Abstract: A semiconductor light emitting apparatus includes a semiconductor light emitting element which includes a stripe structure and an active layer made of an InGaN material, and emits first light without laser oscillation; an optical resonator; and a first wavelength selection unit which allows resonance, in the optical resonator, of second light having a selected wavelength included in the first light emitted by the semiconductor light emitting element. Alternatively, instead of the first wavelength selection unit, a second wavelength selection unit which allows output of only the above second light from the semiconductor light emitting apparatus may be provided. In this case, the semiconductor light emitting apparatus may further include an optical detector which detects intensity of the second light; and an output regularizing unit which drives the semiconductor light emitting element based on the detected intensity so as to regularize the intensity of the second light.

Abstract: A lower multi-layer mirror is disposed on a substrate made of a first semiconductor having a first lattice constant. The lower multi-layer mirror has a lamination structure that a first layer made of an oxide of a second semiconductor and a second layer made of a third semiconductor are alternately stacked. A strain-relaxation layer is disposed on the lower multi-layer mirror, the strain-relaxation layer being made of a fourth semiconductor having a second lattice constant different from the first lattice constant. An active layer is disposed on the strain-relaxation layer. The active layer including a luminescence region is made of a fifth semiconductor having a third lattice constant different from the first and second lattice constants. An upper multi-layer mirror is disposed on the active layer. A surface-emitting semiconductor laser is provided which has a high efficiency and a low heat resistance.

Abstract: The invention includes both devices and methods of production. A device in accordance with the invention includes a top surface and a bottom surface, a through wafer via extending from the top surface to the bottom surface, an optoelectronic structure and an ion implanted isolation moat, wherein the optoelectronic structure and the through wafer via are enclosed within the isolation moat. A method in accordance with the invention is a method of producing a device that includes the steps of forming an optoelectronic structure, forming a through wafer via, extending from a top surface to a bottom surface of the device and forming an ion implanted isolation moat, wherein the through wafer via and the optoelectronic structure are enclosed by the isolation moat.

Abstract: A laser employing a tapered, thin film interference filter as a tuning element. Tapered, thin film interference filters employing dielectric layers are disclosed for use in tuning lasers. Methods of tuning a laser by adjustably positioning a tapered thin film interference filter are disclosed. Also included are a method for tuning a laser to account for thermal wavelength drift, a method of mounting an etalon in a substantially stress free manner, and a mount therefor.

Abstract: A semiconductor laser device of the present invention has a second optical guiding layer provided with a diffraction grating in a portion to be a DBR region and a current blocking layer provided with a stripe-shaped window as a current application portion. A region including this stripe-shaped window serves as a waveguide channel region. Also, in the semiconductor laser device of the present invention, the waveguide channel region in the DBR region is not provided with a contact layer or a p-electrode, and a region other than the waveguide channel region in the DBR region is provided with the contact layer and the p-electrode. By applying current from the p-electrode to the DBR region, the emission wavelength is controlled.

Abstract: A Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser, VSEL. Prior-art VCSELs contain an optical cavity between two mirrors. Near one mirror are positioned current blockers which surround part of the cavity and prevent current from reaching regions of the cavity which are near edges of that mirror. If current reached those regions, lasing would occur there, and the light produced would be scattered by the nearby edges of the mirror. The current blockers reduce that scattering. However, the fabrication steps following those which create the current blockers are expensive. The invention eliminates the expensive steps by (1) placing a layer of gold atop the current blockers and the surrounded lasing region, (2) placing a dielectric layer of high index H atop the gold layer, and (3) placing a quarter-wave stack atop the high index dielectric layer, in the sequence L-H-L- . . . -H-L-H, wherein H represents a high index and L represents a low index. The gold delivers current to the cavity.

Abstract: In a semiconductor laser diode module including a semiconductor laser diode having a front facet for emitting a light beam, a collimating lens for receiving the light beam to generate a collimated light beam and a coupling lens for receiving the collimated light beam and converging the collimated light beam to an optical fiber, a bandpass filter is provided for receiving a first part of the collimated light beam, and a light detector is provided to have a first portion for receiving the first part of the collimated light beam through the bandpass filter and a second portion for receiving a second part of the collimated light beam. Thus, a wavelength of the semiconductor laser diode is controlled in accordance with an output signal of the first portion of the light detector, and a light intensity of the semiconductor laser diode is controlled in accordance with an output signal of the second portion of the light detector.

Abstract: A system employing a solid state light source for writing Bragg gratings in fibers and for other photolithographic applications. The solid state light source preferably has a passively Q-switched laser, a fiber amplifier and two or more nonlinear conversion elements for delivering a pulsed exposure beam at an exposure wavelength in the UV wavelength range. The exposure beam is generated in a single pass through the nonlinear elements, for example by cascaded second harmonic generation yielding the fourth harmonic. The system is effective at covering the UV wavelengths from 200 nm to 330 nm and particularly effective at producing an exposure wavelength between 240 and 250 nm at average power levels of 500 milliWatts and more within a photosensitive range of fiber cores in which Bragg gratings are to be written.

Abstract: A light-emitting device includes a GaAs substrate, a light-emitting structure disposed above the substrate and capable of emitting light having a wavelength of about 1.3 microns to about 1.55 microns, and a buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the light-emitting structure. The composition of the buffer layer varies through the buffer layer such that a lattice constant of the buffer layer grades from a lattice constant approximately equal to a lattice constant of the substrate to a lattice constant approximately equal to a lattice constant of the light-emitting structure. The light-emitting device exhibits improved mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties compared to similar light-emitting devices grown on InP substrates.

Abstract: A multi-wavelength external cavity laser system is disclosed, wherein an array of individual laser elements is placed in a shared laser cavity for all wavelengths that is defined by a free space grating, an optional reflector, and a single relay lens. Laser radiation from the cavity can be externally modulated at each wavelength and outputted as an overlapping beam having substantially all the wavelengths produced by the laser elements through a single fiber or as an array of wavelength-separated beams. A modular design facilitates the addition and/or repair of individual or several channels.

Abstract: A device to monitor light output from a light source, including a V-groove substrate with a reflective coating deposited on at least one surface, an optical fiber, a light source positioned so that an amount of the light emitted, which is less than 100%, enters the optical fiber, a light intensity or source detector positioned so that at least some of the light emitted from the light source, that did not enter the optical fiber impinges upon the light intensity detector, and feedback circuitry. A method of producing a device including the steps of coating a surface of a V-groove substrate with a reflective material, placing a light source in said V-groove substrate.

Abstract: An embodiment of a surface-emitting laser structure includes a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type coupled to a first contact and a second semiconductor region of the same conductivity type coupled to a second contact. A third semiconductor region of the opposite conductivity type is coupled to a third contact and interposed between the first and second semiconductor regions. An active region is interposed between the first and third regions. In a further embodiment, the laser structure may include a variable refractive index structure interposed between the second and third semiconductor regions. In another embodiment, a surface-emitting laser structure may include an active region between a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type coupled to a first contact, and a second As semiconductor region of opposite conductivity type coupled to a second contact. A third electrical contact is dielectrically spaced from the second semiconductor region.

Abstract: A semiconductor device and a photonic semiconductor device are disclosed wherein, if w is the thickness of a metal electrode layer covering a contact layer and current-unfed regions, D denotes the thickness of a plating layer on the metal electrode layer, the boundary between the contact layer and any one of the current-unfed regions is an origin, a direction from the origin into the device interior is a positive direction, and a direction from the origin toward any one of device facets is a negative direction, then a distance d between the origin and each facet of the plating layer satisfies (d/w)[1−w/(w+D)]<20.