Toshihide Sasaki

780nm-range VCSEL array for laser printer system and other applications at Ricoh

A 780 nm-range 40 channels vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array was developed as a writing light source for printers. A 15° off missoriented GaAs substrate, an aluminum-free GaInAsP/GaInP compressively-strained multiple quantum well and an anisotropic-shape transverse-mode filter were employed to control polarization characteristics. The anisotropic-shape transverse-mode filter also suppressed higher transverse-mode and enabled high-power single-mode operation. Thus, orthogonal-polarization suppression-ratio (OPSR) of over 22 dB and side-mode suppression-ratio (SMSR) of 30 dB were obtained at operation power of 3mW at same time for wide oxide-aperture range below 50 μm2. Moreover, a thermal resistance was reduced for 38% by increasing a thickness of high thermal conductivity layer (3λ/4-AlAs layer) near a cavity. By this structure, a peak-power increased to 1.3 times. Moreover, a power-fall caused by self-heating at pulse-rise was decreased to 10% and the one caused by a thermal-crosstalk between channels was decreased to 46%. The VCSEL array was mounted in a ceramic package with a tilted seal glass to prevent optical-crosstalk caused by other channels. Thus, we achieved stable-output and high-quality beam characteristics for long-duration pulse drive.