VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER MODULES FOR OPTICAL COMMUNICATION AND SIGNAL PROCESSING

VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASERS ARE UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT SEVERAL U.S. LABS WHICH CONSIST OF A GAAS/ALGAAS QUANTUM WELL FABRY-PEROT CAVITY SANDWICHED BETWEEN N AND P DOPED HIGH REFLECTIVITY SEMICONDUCTOR MIRRORS (GAAS/ALGAAS QUARTER WAVE STACKS). OUR PHASE I RESEARCH PROVES THE FEASIBLITY OF UNIQUE APPROACH TO THE ELECTRIC ADDRESSABILITY OF THESE SURFACE EMITTING LASERS. FOR ADDRESSING A (MXN) SEL MATRIX OUR APPROACH REDUCES THE PINOUT NUMBER TO (M+N). WE THEREFORE PROVIDE THE KEY INNOVATION NEEDED FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF SEL MATRICES WITH PIXEL DENSITIES IN EXCESS OF 1000, IN DIVERSE AREAS SUCH AS OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS, LASER DISPLAYS, COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS. A 3X3 MATRIX ADDRESSABLE SEL DEVICE WAS FORMED IN THE PHASE I TO SERVE AS A PROOF OF CONCEPT. IN PHASE II WE WILL FABRICATE AND PACKAGE MUCH LARGER MATRICES (100X100) WITH INTEGRATED PHOTODETECTORS AND TEST MARKET THEM.