Colorado State University Research Foundation

Trilumina Corporation

Lumentum Operations LLC

Kevin L Lear

John Richard Joseph

David Abell

Timothy A Erickson

David S Dandy

Guangwei Yuan

Matthew D Stephens

Mial E Warren

Richard F Carson

Sean B Pieper

Tom Wilcox

Vicki L Campbell

Benjamin J Vacha

Jarrod Zacher

Olivera K Notaros

Rich Carson

High power, high speed VCSEL arrays are employed in unique configurations of arrays and sub-arrays. Placement of a VCSEL array behind a lens allows spatial separation and directivity. Diffusion may be employed to increase alignment tolerance. Intensity modulation may be performed by operating groups of VCSEL emitters at maximum bias. Optical communications networks with high bandwidth may employ angular, spatial, and/or wavelength multiplexing. A variety of network topologies and bandwidths suitable for the data center may be implemented. Eye safe networks may employ VCSEL emitters may be paired with optical elements to reduce optical power density to eye safe levels.

System for optical free-space transmission of a string of binary data

Optical laser device

Eye-safe optical laser system

High speed free-space optical communications

A sensor for hydrocarbons uses a waveguide with a first cladding layer, a second cladding layer with a measurement region with hydrophobic measurement material, and a core between the first and second cladding layers. Light is coupled into the waveguide. The measurement material is exposed to the hydrocarbon allowing the hydrocarbon to diffuse into it and change refractive index of the material, which changes intensity of light evanescently coupled through the first cladding layer. Light coupled through the first cladding layer is measured to determine exposure of the sensor to the hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbon sensing methods and apparatus

A waveguide sensor capable of direct, real-time detection and monitoring of analytes in the vicinity of the waveguide surface without requiring the tagging or labeling of the analyte, is described. Analytic and numerical calculations have predicted that by locally detecting either changes in the evanescent field or changes in the light coupled out of the waveguide as a result of the presence of the analyte, high detection sensitivity will be able to be achieved.

Optical analyte sensor

A chip-scale, reusable sensor can detect aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), rapidly in water without sample preparation. The device is capable of real-time, continuous monitoring for BTEX solutes, which diffuse into a film, such as a polymer, on the sensors surface. In operation, BTEX analytes concentrate in the film, causing an increase in refractive index, which modulates evanescent coupling into the chips integrated photodetector array. Integration of the photodetector array simplifies system instrumentation and permits incorporation of an on-chip photocurrent reference region in the immediate vicinity of the sensing region, reducing drift due to temperature fluctuations. In some examples, the chip responds linearly for BTEX concentrations between 1 ppm and 30 ppm, with a limit of detection of 359 ppb, 249 ppb, and 103 ppb for benzene, toluene, and xylene in water, respectively.

An analyte-detection system has an optical waveguide with first and second cladding layers adjacent a core; a light source coupled to provide light to the waveguide; a photodetector such as a metal-semiconductor-metal, vertical PIN, or horizontal PIN photodetectors, the photodetector having an absorber configured to detect light escaping from the waveguide through the first cladding layer; multiple, separate, photocurrent collectors, where each photocurrent collector collects current from a separate portion of the photodetector absorber; and at least one current-sensing amplifier for receiving photocurrent. The photodetector absorber is an undivided absorber region for multiple photocurrent collectors. Either separate amplifiers are provided for each of the multiple photocurrent collection lines, or multiplexing logic couples selected photocurrent collectors to amplifiers, while coupling unselected photocurrent collectors to a bias generator.

Multi-analyte optical sensor

An addressable illuminator is disclosed consisting of multiple optical sources used in combination with an electrical circuit so that different combinations of the optical sources can be energized without exceeding eye-safety limits. Operation of multiple optical sources may be proximate, which is eye-safe, regardless of the number of or which ones of the optical sources are energized and regardless of the position of observers. An illuminator with multiple optical sources remains eye-safe when there are single-point electrical failures, such as short circuits, in the driving circuit. Monitoring or a feedback loop for the output power is not required or necessary to control the distance of an observer in order to be eye-safe.

Addressable illuminator with eye-safety circuitry

A top emitting VCSEL array may be coupled to a separate heat spreading superstrate that may be positioned above the apertures of the array and that may be able to transmit the emitted beams through the heat spreading superstrate. The VCSEL devices in the array may be controlled by an electrical connection to a pattern of conductive elements positioned in close contact with, but electrically isolated from, the heat spreading superstrate. The conductive elements may electrically control one or more of the VCSEL devices to enable sectional control of the light output. The elements may also be arraigned in a ground-signal-ground or coplanar waveguide configuration to improve the frequency response of the array.

Multibeam array of top emitting VCSEL elements

A VCSEL device having a mesa for generating laser light includes a centralized thermal containment area and a thermal discharge area surrounding the centralized thermal containment area. The device includes a thermal lensing structure for enhancing or controlling heat flow within the centralized thermal containment area and the thermal discharge area and creating and maintaining an index of refraction between the centralized thermal containment area and the thermal discharge area. The VCSEL device operates as a multimode device when driven at a first current in a continuous wave and the VCSEL device operates as a single mode device when driven at a second current at a pulse rate shorter than an overall thermal time constant of the VCSEL device.

High brightness pulsed VCSEL sources

A VCSEL array device formed of a monolithic array of raised VCSELs on an electrical contact and raised inactive regions connected to the electrical contact. The VCSELs can be spaced symmetrically or asymmetrically, in a manner to improve power or speed, or in phase and in parallel. The raised VCSELs and raised inactive regions are positioned between the electrical contact and an electrical waveguide. The VCSELs may be separated into subarrays and each VCSEL may be covered with an integrated or bonded microlens for directing light without external lenses. The microlenses may be offset to collect or collimate light and may be shaped to form various lens profiles.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Kevin L Lear