# US 12,009,638 B2 · Surface emission laser driving method and surface emission laser device

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- Number: US 12,009,638 B2
- Document ID: US12009638B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/286,540
- Filed: 2019-10-29
- Published: 2021-12-09
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2018-11-16
- Assignees: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
- Applicants: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
- Inventors: Osamu Maeda; Shota Watanabe; Motoi Kimura; Jugo Mitomo
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12009638B2

## CPC

- H01S 5/42: Arrays of surface emitting lasers
- H01S 5/423: {having a vertical cavity}
- H01S 5/0239: Combinations of electrical or optical elements
- H01S 5/0428: {for applying pulses to the laser}
- H01S 5/06804: {by monitoring an external parameter, e.g. temperature}
- H01S 5/06835: {Stabilising during pulse modulation or generation}
- H01S 5/021: {Silicon based substrates}
- H01S 5/0234: Up-side down mountings, e.g. Flip-chip, epi-side down mountings or junction down mountings
- H01S 5/02345: Wire-bonding
- H01S 5/04252: {characterised by the material}
- H01S 5/04256: {characterised by the configuration}
- H01S 5/0617: {using memorised or pre-programmed laser characteristics}
- H01S 5/18311: {using selective oxidation}
- H01S 5/18358: {containing spacer layers to adjust the phase of the light wave in the cavity}
- H01S: DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL

## Abstract

A surface emission laser driving method according to an embodiment of the present technology includes the following two steps. (A) Generating drive pulses to be sequentially outputted to, out of a plurality of surface emission lasers disposed on a same substrate, each of the surface emission lasers selected as light-emission targets, on the basis of the number of surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets and a monitoring temperature that is immediately prior to light emission of each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets. (B) Outputting the generated drive pulses to each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A surface emission laser driving method comprising:
generating a plurality of drive pulses to be sequentially outputted to, out of a plurality of surface emission lasers disposed on a same substrate, each of the surface emission lasers selected as light-emission targets, on a basis of the number of surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets and a monitoring temperature that is immediately prior to light emission of each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets; and
outputting the plurality of generated drive pulses to each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets, wherein the monitoring temperature is measured by a temperature sensor that is disposed at a position at which a thermal time constant from an active layer of each of the surface emission lasers becomes shorter than a pulse interval of the plurality of drive pulses.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The surface emission laser driving method according to claim 1, wherein the pulse interval of the plurality of drive pulses is on order of milliseconds.

### Claim 3

A surface emission laser device comprising:
a plurality of surface emission lasers disposed on a same substrate;
a drive circuit that drives the plurality of surface emission lasers; and
a temperature sensor, wherein
the drive circuit generates a plurality of drive pulses to be sequentially outputted to, out of the plurality of surface emission lasers, each of the surface emission lasers selected as light-emission targets, on a basis of the number of surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets and a monitoring temperature that is immediately prior to light emission of each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets, and thereafter outputs the plurality of generated drive pulses to each of the surface emission lasers selected as the light-emission targets,
the temperature sensor is disposed at a position at which a thermal time constant from an active layer of each of the surface emission lasers becomes shorter than a pulse interval of the plurality of drive pulses, and
the temperature sensor measures the monitoring temperature.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The surface emission laser device according to claim 3, wherein the pulse interval of the plurality of drive pulses is on order of milliseconds.