Tunable fiber Fabry-Perot surface-emitting lasers

Abstract

This invention provides compact, fixed-wavelength and tunable fiber-optic lasers comprising a gain medium, for example a semiconductor, half-cavity VCSEL, or an organic light emitting polymer, within a Fabry-Perot cavity wherein one of the mirrors forming the cavity is a mirror integral with a fiber, for example a mirror (metallic or dielectric, for example) deposited at a fiber end, a reflective tap within an optical fiber, a fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), or a fiber loop mirror. Semiconductor gain material can be bulk semiconductor material or comprise a semiconductor multiple quantum well region. The gain medium itself is not confined to a fiber. The FP cavity of these lasers typically contains a thin active medium ranging up to about 10 μm in length, but more preferably about 1 to about 21 μm in thickness

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.