Topological Insulator Vertical Cavity Laser Array

Introduction

Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are tiny semiconductor lasers, structured as pillars of few-microns diameter on a chip, emitting light from their surface. They are now the most commonly used lasers, e.g., in cell phones, car sensors, and data transmission in fiber optic networks.

Limitations of VCSELs

Though widely used, the minuscule size of VCSELs sets a stringent limit on the output power they can generate. For years, scientists have sought to enhance the power emitted by such devices through combining many tiny VCSELs and attempting to force them to act as a single coherent laser, with limited success.

Recent Breakthrough

In a recent breakthrough, which appeared in Science magazine, we presented a new scheme to force very many VCSELs to lock together and act as a single coherent laser source. Our breakthrough, a direct outcome of our ERC AdG, employs a unique geometrical arrangement of VCSELs on the chip that forces the light to move in a specific path—a photonic topological insulator platform.

Proposed Technology

We propose to capitalize on the success and construct proof of concept technology that will bring this topological insulator VCSEL array a major step towards commercialization.

Design and Construction

1. We will design and construct a highly efficient VCSEL array on a novel topological platform optimized for reliability and scalability to large numbers of emitters, where all the emitters act as a single laser.
2. The topological VCSEL array will be pumped electrically, operating at room temperature, and rely on quantum well optimized for emitting high power per emitter.
3. We will define the topological insulator geometry with a reflectivity-modulation scheme that ensures reliability.

Anticipated Impact

Our proposed scheme, anticipated to be ready within 18 months, is scalable to a large number of VCSELs and will be a game changer in a plethora of technologies. It will pave the way to new applications that require orders of magnitude higher laser power while maintaining high coherence.

Conclusion

It can revolutionize many applications we use in daily life.