Non-mechanical beam scanner based on VCSEL integrated amplifier with resonant wavelength detuning design

Abstract

We demonstrate the non-mechanical beam steering and amplifier operation of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) integrated Bragg reflector waveguide amplifier with a cut-off wavelength detuning design, which enables unidirectional lateral coupling, continuous electrical beam steering, and diffraction-limited divergence angle. We present the modeling of the proposed structure for unidirectional coupling between a seed single-mode VCSEL and slow-light amplifier. We also present the detailed operating characteristics including the near-field and far-field patterns, light/current characteristics, and lasing spectrum. The experimental measurements exhibit a single-mode output of over 8 mW under CW operation, a continuous beam steering range of 16°, and beam divergence below 0.1° as an optical beam scanner. The integrated amplifier length is as small as 0.9 mm, and thus we could expect much higher powers and higher resolution points by increasing the amplifier lengths.