40G Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser for Photovoltaic Power Plants

The surface emission from a bulk semiconductor at ultra-low temperature and magnetic carrier confinement was reported by Ivars Melngailis in 1965. The first proposal of short VCSEL was done by Kenichi Iga of Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977. A simple drawing of his idea is shown in his research note. Contrary to the conventional Fabry-Perot edge-emitting semiconductor lasers, his invention comprises a short laser cavity less than 1/10 of the edge-emitting lasers vertical to a wafer s. [pdf]