Laser element and electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024213733-A1
Application number	US-202218556953-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2022
Priority date	May 26, 2021
Publication date	Jun 27, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A temperature rise in an optical resonator can be suppressed, or damage to the optical resonator due to laser light condensing can be avoided.A laser element includes a semiconductor layer including a first reflection layer with respect to a first wavelength and an active layer that performs surface emission at the first wavelength, a laser medium arranged on a rear side of an optical axis of the semiconductor layer and including a second reflection layer with respect to a second wavelength on a first surface facing the semiconductor layer and a third reflection layer with respect to the first wavelength on a second surface on a side opposite to the first surface, a fourth reflection layer with respect to the second wavelength arranged on the second surface or arranged on a rear side of the optical axis with respect to the second surface, a first resonator that causes light having the first wavelength to resonate between the first reflection layer and the third reflection layer, a second resonator that causes light having the second wavelength to resonate between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer, and an optical element arranged between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer, the optical element that increases a beam diameter of the light having the second wavelength, in which the optical axis of the semiconductor layer, an optical axis of the laser medium, and an optical axis of the optical element are coaxially arranged.

First claim

1 . A laser element comprising:
a laminated semiconductor layer including a first reflection layer with respect to a first wavelength and an active layer that performs surface emission at the first wavelength; a laser medium arranged on a rear side of an optical axis of the laminated semiconductor layer and including a second reflection layer with respect to a second wavelength on a first surface facing the laminated semiconductor layer and a third reflection layer with respect to the first wavelength on a second surface on a side opposite to the first surface; a fourth reflection layer with respect to the second wavelength arranged on the second surface or arranged on a rear side of the optical axis with respect to the second surface; a first resonator that causes light having the first wavelength to resonate between the first reflection layer and the third reflection layer; a second resonator that causes light having the second wavelength to resonate between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer; and an optical element arranged between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer, the optical element that increases a beam diameter of the light having the second wavelength, wherein the optical axis of the laminated semiconductor layer, an optical axis of the laser medium, and an optical axis of the optical element are coaxially arranged.

2 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
an end face on a side of the laser medium of the laminated semiconductor layer is joined to an end face on a side of the laminated semiconductor layer of the laser medium.

3 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical element reflects or refracts at least a part of the light having the second wavelength so that the light having the second wavelength is not condensed.

4 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical element includes a dielectric multilayer film.

5 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical element includes a convex mirror that reflects at least a part of incident light, or a light refracting member that refracts at least a part of the incident light so that the incident light is not condensed.

6 . The laser element according to claim 5 , wherein
in a case where the optical element includes the fourth reflection layer, the fourth reflection layer is the convex mirror, and in a case where the optical element is provided on a side closer to the second reflection layer than the fourth reflection layer, the optical element includes the light refracting member.

7 . The laser element according to claim 5 , wherein
the optical element includes a transparent member that flattens a side of a surface opposite to a reflection surface of the convex mirror or a refraction surface of the light refracting member and transmits the light having the second wavelength.

8 . The laser element according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a light control member that is joined to the transparent member arranged on the side of the surface opposite to the refraction surface of the light refracting member and controls a refraction or polarization direction of the light having the second wavelength transmitted through the optical element.

9 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical element has a fine periodic structure that reflects or refracts at least a part of incident light in such a manner that the incident light is not condensed, and the fine periodic structure includes irregularities periodically arranged in a surface direction.

10 . The laser element according to claim 9 , wherein
the fine periodic structure is a Fresnel lens, a meta lens, or a photonic crystal lens.

11 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical element includes a flat surface having a refractive index distribution in a surface direction that reflects or refracts at least a part of incident light in such a manner that the incident light is not condensed.

12 . The laser element according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a saturable absorber including the fourth reflection layer on a third surface on a side opposite to the laser medium, wherein the optical axis of the laminated semiconductor layer, the optical axis of the laser medium, the optical axis of the saturable absorber, and the optical axis of the optical element are coaxially arranged.

13 . The laser element according to claim 12 , wherein
the laminated semiconductor layer, the laser medium, and the saturable absorber are integrally joined.

14 . The laser element according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a first transparent medium arranged between the laminated semiconductor layer and the laser medium, the first transparent medium that transmits the light having the first wavelength.

15 . The laser element according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a second transparent medium arranged between the laser medium and the saturable absorber, the second transparent medium that transmits the light having the second wavelength.

16 . The laser element according to claim 12 , wherein
the optical element is provided on at least one of the laser medium or the saturable absorber.

17 . The laser element according to claim 16 , wherein
the optical element is provided on a surface or inside of the laser medium and the saturable absorber.

18 . The laser element according to claim 17 , wherein
the optical element is provided along the third surface of the saturable absorber.

19 . The laser element according to claim 12 , wherein
the optical element is arranged between the laser medium and the saturable absorber.

20 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the fourth reflection layer is an output coupling mirror in the second resonator.

21 . The laser element according to claim 1 , wherein
the laminated semiconductor layer includes a fifth reflection layer with respect to the first wavelength, the fifth reflection layer arranged on a side closer to the laser medium than the first reflection layer, and the fifth reflection layer transmits a part of the light having the first wavelength.

22 . An electronic device comprising:
a laser element; and a control unit that performs control to emit light from the laser element, wherein the laser element includes: a laminated semiconductor layer including a first reflection layer with respect to a first wavelength and an active layer that performs surface emission at the first wavelength; a laser medium arranged on a rear side of an optical axis of the laminated semiconductor layer and including a second reflection layer with respect to a second wavelength on a first surface facing the laminated semiconductor layer and a third reflection layer with respect to the first wavelength on a second surface on a side opposite to the first surface; a fourth reflection layer with respect to the second wavelength arranged on the second surface or arranged on a rear side of the optical axis with respect to the second surface; a first resonator that causes light having the first wavelength to resonate between the first reflection layer and the third reflection layer; a second resonator that causes light having the second wavelength to resonate between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer; and an optical element arranged between the second reflection layer and the fourth reflection layer, the optical ele

Assignees

• Sony Group Corp

Inventors

• Kamata Masanao
• Yonezawa Gen

Classifications

• H01S5/183

  having only vertical cavities, e.g. vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers [VCSEL] · CPC title

• H01S3/113 Primary

  using intracavity saturable absorbers · CPC title

• A61B18/20

  using laser · CPC title

• H01S3/0804

  Transverse or lateral modes · CPC title

• H01S3/08081

  Unstable resonators · CPC title