Comparison between PCSEL and conventional laser (FP-LD)

The features of PCSEL are summarized below in comparison with the conventional broad area Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers (FP-LDs).

On the Lens-Free Light Propagation

A comparison between PCSEL and conventional semiconductor laser is shown below (movie) in terms of lens free light propagation. It can be seen that, for the conventional Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser (FP-LD), the beam is already spread out in the vertical direction and shows multimodal behavior in the lateral direction. On the other hand, for the PCSEL, only a very small spot is seen.

The compared results for 15cm to 30m are shown below. Even at a far distance of 30m, the beam spot size is kept as small as 5cm for the PCSEL. This result clearly indicates that PCSELs can be utilized for sensing applications (such as LiDAR) without using lens.