Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs)

A VCSEL is a tiny laser that emits a beam vertically from a chip’s surface. PARC has developed the world’s most densely-packed VCSEL array, with independently addressable laser elements placed on a linear pitch as small as 3 microns.

Silicon CMOS-based driver integrated circuits can be combined with the laser array to form an ultra-dense optoelectronic multi-chip module using PARC’s StressedMeta™ ClawConnect™ technology. Such an imager-on-a-chip allows thousands of independently addressable lasers to be packaged in a compact module. The imagers could eliminate optical systems with mechanical moving parts, replacing them with a more compact, all solid-state light source.

Imager-on-a-chip combines lasers and lenses on a single substrate

VCSELs are used for building optical interconnects that transfer data between computers via lasers. One application would replace copper cables with bundles of optical fiber ribbons to connect electronic boards in computer backplanes, enabling much faster data transfer rates.