Recent progress of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) using high contrast grating (HCG) and their applications will be reviewed. A typical electrically-pumped VCSEL consists of two oppositely doped distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) with a cavity layer in between. This conventional design requires epitaxy that is 6-8 micron thick having 0.1% precision in composition and thickness. Replacing the top DBR with a single layer, ultra-thin high contrast grating not only drastically increases the epitaxy and processing yield, but enables a wide and continuous wavelength swept. We will discuss recent progress of electrically-pumped, tunable VCSELs emitting at 850-nm, 940-nm, 1060-nm, 1300-nm and 1550-nm. New applications in optical coherence tomography, 3D sensing and LIDAR will be discussed.
The ability to actively control the perceived color of objects is highly desirable for a variety of applications, such as camouflage, sensing, and displays. Such a phenomenon can be readily found in nature - the chameleon is an excellent example. However, the capability to change color at-will has yet to be reproduced by humans. Ultra-thin dielectric high contrast metastructures (HCMs) have been shown to exhibit unique versatility to manipulate light. In this work, we report a completely new flexible HCM structure whose color can be varied by stretching the membrane. This is accomplished with a novel HCM design that annihilates the 0th order diffraction in a grating while enhancing the -1st order. The color perception of the HCM, determined by the -1st diffraction order, is thus easily changed with the variation of its period. The ultra-thin HCM is patterned on a silicon-on-insulator wafer and transferred onto a flexible membrane. We measure more than 15 times stronger intensity in the -1st order diffraction than the 0th order, in excellent agreement with theoretical results. We experimentally demonstrate brilliant colors and change the color of a 1 cm×1 cm sample from green to orange (39 nm wavelength change) with a stretch of 4.9% (25 nm period change). The same effect can be used for steering a laser beam. We demonstrate more than 40 resolvable beam spots.
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