Vertical-cavity ring laser

A new type of laser diode structure is proposed, in which a ring type structure is implemented with the plane of the ring perpendicular to the surface of the semiconductor. Emitting beams both parallel and perpendicular to the surface, this structure could be useful for coupling into fiber or adjacent optoelectronic devices. By injection-locking a series of these lasers, a phased array of surface emitting lasers is made possible. Losses are expected to be significantly less than those reported for grating-coupled surface emitting arrays, with from 8% to 31% coupling plus absorption loss compared to 50%-73% refraction plus absorption loss for grating coupled arrays.<
>