Matrix addressable vertical cavity surface emitting laser array

The design, fabrication and characterisation of 1024-element matrix addressable vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays are described. A strained InGaAs quantum well VCSEL structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and an array of 32×32 lasers was defined using a proton implantation process. A matrix addressing architecture was employed, which enables the individual addressing of each of the 1024 lasers using only 64 electrical contacts. All the lasers in the array, measured after the laser definition step, were operating with fairly homogeneous characteristics; threshold current of 6.8 mA and output quantum differential efficiency of about 8%.