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

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.