Devices with ultra-small vertical cavity surface emitting laser emitters incorporating beam steering

A laser array, comprising:

• a plurality of laser emitters arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns on a substrate that is non-native to the plurality of laser emitters;
• and
• a plurality of driver transistors on the substrate adjacent one or more of the laser emitters,
• wherein a subset of the plurality of laser emitters comprises a string of laser emitters that are connected such that an anode of at least one laser emitter of the subset is connected to a cathode of an adjacent laser emitter of the subset,
• wherein a driver transistor of the plurality of driver transistors is configured to control a current flowing through the string to simultaneously activate at least two of the plurality of laser emitters,
• wherein a distance between the driver transistor and a laser emitter of the string that is immediately adjacent the driver transistor is less than 2 mm, and
• wherein the plurality of laser emitters are free of a native substrate thereof.

A method of operating a laser array comprising:

• providing a semiconductor structure comprising a substrate upon which a plurality of laser emitters have been arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns;
• and
• selectively controlling current through the plurality of laser emitters using a plurality of driver transistors on the substrate,
• wherein a first subset of the plurality of laser emitters comprises a string of laser emitters that are connected such that an anode of at least one laser emitter of the first subset is connected to a cathode of an adjacent laser emitter of the first subset,
• wherein a driver transistor of the plurality of driver transistors is configured to control a current flowing through the string to simultaneously activate at least two of the plurality of laser emitters,
• wherein the substrate is non-native to the plurality of laser emitters,
• wherein the plurality of laser emitters and the plurality of driver transistors are part of a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system, and
• wherein selectively controlling current through the plurality of laser emitters using the plurality of driver transistors comprises activating the first subset of the plurality of laser emitters at a first non-zero power level and activating a second subset of the plurality of laser emitters at a second non-zero power level, different from the first non-zero power level.