Low Power Vertical-Cavity Laser Arrays with Integrated Microlenses

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers are a breakthrough for parallel free space communications, since they can easily be fabricated into one and two dimensional arrays. Recent advances have yielded devices with efficiencies approaching in-plane lasers, but at operating currents in the order of one milliamp. This means that it is now possible to produce massively parallel two dimensional emitter arrays with acceptable heat generation. Adding to the device improvements, has been the development of GaAs microlenses integrated directly into the substrate of bottom emitting vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays. The integrated microlenses are used focus the emission of the lasers for effective free space communications.