Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090285252 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser includes a substrate and multiple semiconductor layers stacked on the substrate. A normal of the principal plane of the substrate is inclined with respect to one of crystal orientations <1 0 0> toward one of crystal orientations <1 1 1>. The semiconductor layers include a resonator structure including an active layer; and a semiconductor multilayer mirror stacked on the resonator structure. The semiconductor multilayer mirror includes a confined structure where a current passage area is surrounded by an oxidized area including at least an oxide generated by oxidation of a part of a selective oxidation layer containing aluminum. A strain field caused by the oxidation is present at least in a part of the vicinity of the oxidized area. In the strain field, the amount of strain in a first axis direction is different from the amount of strain in a second axis direction. | 11-19-2009 |
20090295902 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - A surface-emitting laser array includes a plurality of surface-emitting laser elements. Each surface-emitting laser element includes a first reflection layer formed on a substrate, a resonator formed in contact with the first reflection layer and containing an active layer, and a second reflection layer formed over the first reflection layer and in contact with the resonator. The second reflection layer contains a selective oxidation layer. The first reflection layer contains on the active layer side at least a low refractive index layer having an oxidation rate equivalent to or larger than an oxidation rate of a selective oxidation layer contained in the second reflection layer. The resonator is made of an AlGaInPAs base material containing at least In. A bottom of a mesa structure is located under the selective oxidation layer and over the first reflection layer. | 12-03-2009 |
20090310632 | SURFACE EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a surface emitting laser element, on an inclined substrate, a resonator structural body including an active layer, and a lower semiconductor DBR and an upper semiconductor DBR sandwiching the resonator structural body are stacked. A shape of a current passing-through region in an oxide confinement structure of the upper semiconductor DBR is symmetrical to an axis passing through a center of the current passing-through region parallel to an X axis and symmetrical to an axis passing through the center of the current passing-through region parallel to a Y axis, and a thickness of an oxidized layer surrounding the current passing-through region is greater in the +Y direction than in the +X and −X directions. An opening width of a light outputting section in the X axis direction is smaller than another opening width of the light outputting section in the Y axis direction. | 12-17-2009 |
20100328747 | SURFACE EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A surface emitting laser element is disclosed. The surface emitting laser element includes a resonator structural body including an active layer, first and second semiconductor distributed Bragg reflectors which sandwich the resonator structural body, and a confinement structure which can confine an injection current and a lateral mode of oscillation light at the same time by being formed with selective oxidation of a layer to be selectively oxidized containing aluminum in the first semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector. A thickness of the layer to be selectively oxidized is 28 nm, and a temperature when an oscillation threshold current becomes a minimum value is approximately 17° C. | 12-30-2010 |
20110037825 | VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER DEVICE, VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, OPTICAL TRANSMISSION MODULE AND OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM - A disclosed vertical cavity surface emitting laser device emits light orthogonally in relation to a substrate and includes a resonator structure including an active layer; and semiconductor multilayer reflectors disposed in such a manner as to sandwich the resonator structure between them and including a confinement structure which confines an injected current and transverse modes of oscillation light at the same time. The confinement structure has an oxidized region which surrounds a current passage region. The oxidized region is formed by oxidizing a part of a selective oxidation layer which includes aluminum and includes at least an oxide. The selective oxidation layer is at least 25 nm in thickness. The semiconductor multilayer reflectors include an optical confinement reducing section which reduces optical confinement in a transverse direction. The optical confinement reducing section is disposed on the substrate side in relation to the resonator structure. | 02-17-2011 |
20110109713 | OPTICAL DEVICE, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF OPTICAL DEVICE - An optical device including an optical element; a package member in which the optical element is held on a bottom surface of the package member in an area surrounded by walls; and a plate member that seals the area surrounded by the walls and the bottom surface in an airtight manner, the plate member being translucent and joined to the package member with a resin material. The walls have a structure including steps, the plate member is joined onto one of the steps of the walls, and at least a part of the walls facing side surfaces of the plate member includes a positioning part for positioning the plate member and a retaining part for retaining the resin material, in a direction perpendicular to the bottom surface. | 05-12-2011 |
20110115872 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser element includes a substrate, multiple semiconductor layers stacked on the substrate including a resonator structure including an active layer, a semiconductor multilayer mirror on the resonator structure, and a confined structure where a current passage region is enclosed by at least an oxide generated by oxidation of part of a selective oxidation layer containing aluminum, an electrode provided around an emission region, and a dielectric film provided in a peripheral portion within the emission region and outside a central portion of the emission region to make a reflectance of the peripheral portion lower than that of the central portion. The dielectric film is arranged such that a reflectance of a high-order transverse mode in a second direction is higher than that in a first direction, and a width of the current passage region in the first direction is greater than that in the second direction. | 05-19-2011 |
20110170155 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser element includes an emission region configured to emit a laser beam and a high reflectance region including a first dielectric film having a first refractive index and a second dielectric film having a second refractive index differing from the first refractive index where the first dielectric film and the second dielectric film are stacked within the emission region to provide high reflectance. In the surface-emitting laser element, the high reflectance region is formed in a region including a central portion of the emission region and is configured to include shape anisotropy in two orthogonal directions in a plane in parallel with the emission region. | 07-14-2011 |
20110228035 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER MODULE, OPTICAL SCANNER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser module includes a surface-emitting laser formed on a substrate to emit light perpendicular to its surface, a package including a recess portion in which the substrate having the surface-emitting laser is arranged, and a transparent substrate arranged to cover the recess portion of the package and the substrate having the surface-emitting laser such that the transparent substrate and the package are connected on a light emitting side of the surface-emitting laser. In the surface-emitting laser module, a high reflectance region and a low reflectance region are formed within a region enclosed by an electrode on an upper part of a mesa of the surface-emitting laser, and the transparent substrate is slanted to the surface of the substrate having the surface-emitting laser in a polarization direction of the light emitted from the surface-emitting laser determined by the high reflectance region and the low reflectance region. | 09-22-2011 |
20110267415 | LIGHT SOURCE UNIT, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A light source unit includes a surface-emitting laser array including light emitting units; and an apertured member provided on a light path of light beams emitted from the surface-emitting laser array, the apertured member including an aperture. In at least one direction, an intensity distribution of interference patterns caused by the light beams passing through the aperture includes an equal number of crests and troughs. | 11-03-2011 |
20120121297 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A surface-emitting laser includes a substrate; a lower semiconductor multilayer film reflector disposed on the substrate; a resonator structure including an active layer and disposed on the lower semiconductor multilayer film reflector; and an upper semiconductor multilayer film reflector disposed on the resonator structure. The second semiconductor multilayer film reflector includes a confinement structure in which a current passage region is surrounded by an oxidized portion of a selectively oxidized layer containing aluminum. An emission region includes a central portion and a peripheral portion, the peripheral portion being covered with a transparent dielectric film whose reflectivity is lower than a reflectivity of the central portion. The selectively oxidized layer has a thickness in a range from 30 nm to 40 nm. The temperature at which an oscillation threshold current is minimized is 60° C. or lower. | 05-17-2012 |
20120251182 | OPTICAL DEVICE CAPABLE OF MINIMIZING OUTPUT VARIATION DUE TO FEEDBACK LIGHT, OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical device includes a surface-emitting laser array having a plurality of light-emitting portions; a package member on which the surface-emitting laser array is disposed; and a transparent member retained on the package member and disposed on an optical path of a light beam emitted by the surface-emitting laser array. The transparent member includes an incident plane on which the light beam emitted by the surface-emitting laser array is incident. The incident plane is inclined with respect to an emitting surface of the surface-emitting laser array at a first inclination angle which is smaller than a second inclination angle at which the light emitted by one of the light-emitting portions is incident on another, most-distant one, of the light-emitting portions via reflection by the transparent member. | 10-04-2012 |
20130057861 | MOISTURE SENSOR, MOISTURE DETECTOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A moisture sensor for detecting moisture content of an object includes a light source to emit light having an infrared wavelength that is absorbed by water; an optical system to receive the light from the light source and output linearly polarized light having a first polarization direction in a direction toward the object, and to receive light scattered from the object and output linearly polarized light having a second polarization direction perpendicular to the first polarization direction in another direction other than the direction toward the object; and a photodetector to receive the linearly polarized light having the second polarization direction output from the optical system. | 03-07-2013 |
20130062510 | PACKAGE MEMBER AND OPTICAL DEVICE - A ceramic package includes a chip mounting portion, a photodiode (PD) mounting portion, a plurality of connecting terminals, and a gold-plated portion. The chip mounting portion is a portion on which a surface-emitting laser array chip is mounted on a first ceramic layer. The PD mounting portion is provided to a second ceramic layer stacked on the positive side in a c-axis direction of the first, ceramic layer. Openings are formed at four corners of the PD mounting portion. A scale is formed on a portion that can be observed through the opening of the second ceramic layer on the surface of the positive side in the c-axis direction of the first ceramic layer. | 03-14-2013 |
20130152366 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING AN OPTICAL UNIT - Disclosed is a method for manufacturing an optical unit, including a step of bringing two side face portions of a ceramic package into contact with two contact portions of a jig, a step of placing plural light-receiving and light-emitting elements in a predetermined region of the ceramic package with reference to the contact portions of the jig, and a step of connecting the plural light-receiving and light-emitting elements to a wiring line part formed in the ceramic package by using a bonding wire, wherein at least one of the plural light-receiving and light-emitting elements is placed between one of the two contact portions of the jig and another one of the plural light-receiving and light-emitting elements in the step of placing the plural light-receiving and light-emitting elements. | 06-20-2013 |
20130194573 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an optical sensor, a light emission system emits an irradiated light of a linear polarization in a first polarization direction toward a surface of a target object having a sheet shape from an incident direction which is inclined with respect to a normal direction of the surface. A first light detection system includes a first light detector arranged on a first light path of a specular reflected light, which is emitted from the light emission system and is specularly reflected from the target object. A second light detection system includes a second light detector arranged on a second light path of a diffuse reflected light which is diffusely reflected from an incident plane on the target object. The second light detector receives second light passed by an optical element which passes a linear polarization component of a second polarization direction perpendicular to the first polarization direction. | 08-01-2013 |
20130216245 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed, including an irradiating system; a first photodetecting system including a first photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is specularly reflected from a subject; a second photodetecting system including an optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject and which separates a linearly polarized component in a second polarizing direction which is orthogonal to a first polarizing direction and a second photodetector which receives a light separated by the optical element; and a restricting member which is arranged on an optical path of an incident light with respect to at least one of the first photodetector and the second photodetector and which restricts a light receiving range in the at least one photodetector. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216246 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed. The optical sensor includes a light source in which a semiconductor laser having multiple light-emitting units is sealed with one resin member; a light source driving unit which causes the multiple light-emitting units to emit light; and at least one photodetector which detects a light amount of a light which is emitted from the multiple light-emitting units and is reflected from a subject. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216247 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed. The optical sensor includes an irradiating system which irradiates a linearly polarized light; a first photodetecting system including a first photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is specularly reflected from a subject; a second photodetecting system including an optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject and which separates a linearly polarized component in a second polarizing direction which is orthogonal to a first polarizing direction and a second photodetector which receives a light separated by the optical element, wherein an angle of taking in the light in the first photodetector and an angle of taking in the light in the second photodetector are mutually different. | 08-22-2013 |
20130228674 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor includes an irradiation system emitting linearly polarized light of a first polarization direction toward a surface of an object from an incident direction inclined with respect to a normal to the surface; a first light detection system including a first light detector placed on a light path of light emitted from the irradiation system and specularly reflected by the object; and a second light detection system including a separation optical element placed on a light path of light diffusely reflected by the object, on a plane of incidence of the object, and extracting a linearly polarized light component of the first polarization direction included in the light diffusely reflected by the object, a second light detector receiving the linearly polarized light component of the first polarization direction extracted by the separation optical element and a third light detector receiving the light diffusely reflected by the object. | 09-05-2013 |
20130230070 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - A surface-emitting laser array includes a plurality of surface-emitting laser elements. Each surface-emitting laser element includes a first reflection layer formed on a substrate, a resonator formed in contact with the first reflection layer and containing an active layer, and a second reflection layer formed over the first reflection layer and in contact with the resonator. The second reflection layer contains a selective oxidation layer. The first reflection layer contains on the active layer side at least a low refractive index layer having an oxidation rate equivalent to or larger than an oxidation rate of a selective oxidation layer contained in the second reflection layer. The resonator is made of an AlGaInPAs base material containing at least In. A bottom of a mesa structure is located under the selective oxidation layer and over the first reflection layer. | 09-05-2013 |
20130235377 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - An optical sensor includes: a light emission module to emit a linearly polarized light beam having a first polarizing direction to a surface of an object in an incident direction inclined relative to a direction of a normal to the surface; a first photodetector module including a first photodetector disposed within a plane of incidence of the surface in an optical path inclined relative to an optical path of a light beam emitted from the light emission module and regularly reflected on the surface; and a second photodetector module including an optical element disposed within the plane of incidence of the surface in an optical path of a diffused reflection light beam from the surface to separate a linearly polarized light beam having a second polarizing direction perpendicular to the first polarizing direction, and a second photodetector to receive the light beam separated by the optical element. | 09-12-2013 |
20140246590 | MOISTURE SENSOR, MOISTURE DETECTOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A moisture sensor for detecting moisture content of an object includes a light source to emit light having an infrared wavelength that is absorbed by water; an optical system to receive the light from the light source and output linearly polarized light having a first polarization direction in a direction toward the object, and to receive light scattered from the object and output linearly polarized light having a second polarization direction perpendicular to the first polarization direction in another direction other than the direction toward the object; and a photodetector to receive the linearly polarized light having the second polarization direction output from the optical system. | 09-04-2014 |
20150015882 | SENSOR DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sensor device is disclosed, including a database, and a processing apparatus. The database includes, for multiple different first types of objects, a first output data which are output data of an optical system acquired beforehand for each of the first objects in a case in which a surface of one side of the first object is set as the detection surface; and a second output data which are output data of the optical detection system acquired beforehand for each of the first objects in a case in which a surface of an other side opposite to the one side of the first object is set as the detection surface. The processing apparatus matches measurement data with the database, the measurement data being the output data of the optical detection system which is acquired with respect to a second object, and determines a type of the second object. | 01-15-2015 |
20150023381 | SURFACE-EMITTING LASER MODULE, OPTICAL SCANNER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A disclosed surface-emitting laser module includes a surface-emitting laser formed on a substrate to emit light perpendicular to its surface, a package including a recess portion in which the substrate having the surface-emitting laser is arranged, and a transparent substrate arranged to cover the recess portion of the package and the substrate having the surface-emitting laser such that the transparent substrate and the package are connected on a light emitting side of the surface-emitting laser. In the surface-emitting laser module, a high reflectance region and a low reflectance region are formed within a region enclosed by an electrode on an upper part of a mesa of the surface-emitting laser, and the transparent substrate is slanted to the surface of the substrate having the surface-emitting laser in a polarization direction of the light emitted from the surface-emitting laser determined by the high reflectance region and the low reflectance region. | 01-22-2015 |
20150063396 | VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER DEVICE, VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACEEMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, OPTICAL TRANSMISSION MODULE AND OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM - A disclosed vertical cavity surface emitting laser device emits light orthogonally in relation to a substrate and includes a resonator structure including an active layer; and semiconductor multilayer reflectors disposed in such a manner as to sandwich the resonator structure between them and including a confinement structure which confines an injected current and transverse modes of oscillation light at the same time. The confinement structure has an oxidized region which surrounds a current passage region. The oxidized region is formed by oxidizing a part of a selective oxidation layer which includes aluminum and includes at least an oxide. The selective oxidation layer is at least 25 nm in thickness. The semiconductor multilayer reflectors include an optical confinement reducing section which reduces optical confinement in a transverse direction. The optical confinement reducing section is disposed on the substrate side in relation to the resonator structure. | 03-05-2015 |