Scientists at KAUST have demonstrated a simple method of modifying compact semiconductor lasers to make them more suitable for illumination and holography. Semiconductor technology enables all components of a laser to be compactly packaged into a device that is only a few micrometers in size. Thi
Illustration of a chaotic-cavity surface-emitting laser array. This new class of laser array combines the advantages of chaotic cavities and the surface-emission configuration to enable high-quality illumination and high-speed communication. Credit: 2023 KAUST; Omar Alkhazragihave demonstrated a simple method of modifying compact semiconductor lasers to make them more suitable for illumination and holography.
One such device is the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, or VCSEL. These are built by precisely placing, or growing, alternating layers of semiconductor on a substrate to create a highly reflective stack. The active material is then grown on top, followed by a second reflective stack. Laser light can then be emitted from the top of the device.
The speckles originate from the highly ordered nature of the cavity, which allows only a small number of modes, or light-ray trajectories, to be emitted. “VCSELs utilize an ordered cavity that allows the resonance of light in only a small number of modes with exceptionally high efficiency,” explains researcher Omar Alkhazragi. “The photons in these modes interfere with each other, resulting in speckles and low illumination quality.
Alkhazragi and the team investigated VCSELs with a D-shaped cavity and compared it with those with the standard cylindrical, or O-shaped, geometry. They observed that the D-shaped devices exhibited substantially reduced coherence and a corresponding 60 percent increase in optical power, which is the maximum achievable.
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