Meta Patent | Multi-color visible light source including integrated vcsels and integrated photonic cavities

where η_EQE is the external quantum efficiency of image source 412, T_in is the in-coupling efficiency of light from image source 412 into the waveguide (e.g., substrate 420), and η_out is the outcoupling efficiency of light from the waveguide towards the user's eye by output coupler 440. Thus, the overall efficiency η_tot of the waveguide-based display can be improved by improving one or more of η_EQE, η_in, and η_out.

The optical coupler (e.g., input coupler 430 or coupler 532) that couples the emitted light from a light source to a waveguide may include, for example, a grating, a lens, a micro-lens, a prism. In some embodiments, light from a small light source (e.g., a micro-LED) can be directly (e.g., end-to-end) coupled from the light source to a waveguide, without using an optical coupler. In some embodiments, the optical coupler (e.g., a lens or a parabolic-shaped reflector) may be manufactured on the light source.

The visible light sources, image sources, or other displays described herein may include one or more LEDs, one or more organic LEDs (OLEDs), one or more VCSELs, one or more RCLEDs, or the like. It is generally desirable that the visible light sources have small pixel sizes, high brightness, high dynamic ranges, controllable emission directions, individual addressability, large color Gamut coverages, and manufacturing scalability. LEDs and OLEDs may have fundamental limitations in brightness.

A VCSEL generally includes a light-emitting active region in a laser cavity that forms a laser resonator. The light-emitting active region may include quantum wells (QWs) that emit photons when properly biased. The photons may be confined in the laser cavity by a pair of mirrors, such as distributed Bragg reflection (DBR) mirrors or high-contrast grating (HCG) mirrors. In some embodiments, one DBR mirror may be n-doped and the other DBR mirror may be p-doped. In some embodiments, a p-doped layer and an n-doped layer may be used in the laser cavity and the light-emitting active region may be between the p-doped layer and the n-doped layer. VCSELs may be based on a variety of materials. For example, VCSELs with wavelengths from about 650 nm to about 1300 nm may be based on gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafers with DBRs formed by interleaved GaAs and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) layers. In GaAs/AlGaAs VCSELs, the lattice constants of the materials do not vary significantly as the composition is changed, thus permitting multiple lattice-matched epitaxial layers to be grown on a GaAs substrate. AlGaAs-based DBRs can have a reflectivity close to 100%, which can efficiently confine photons in the laser cavity. The refractive index of AlGaAs can vary as the Al fraction is increased, thus minimizing the number of layers used to form a DBR mirror with a high reflectivity. AlGaAs-based DBRs doped with p-type or n-type impurities can also serve as current paths. Selectively oxidizing the AlGaAs layers adjacent to the QWs may laterally confine photons and carriers.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of a VCSEL 700. VCSEL 700 may include a substrate 710, such as a GaAs substrate or a GaN substrate. In the illustrated example, an optional bulk DBR 720 may be formed (e.g., epitaxially grown) on substrate 710. Bulk DBR 720 may include multiple interleaved layers of different materials that have different refractive indices, such as multiple pairs of AlGaAs/GaAs or AlAs/GaAs layers, and thus may reflect light at the interfaces between the different material layers to achieve a high overall reflectivity. A bottom DBR 730 may be formed on bulk DBR 720 or may be part of bulk DBR 720. Bottom DBR 730 may similarly include multiple interleaved layers of different materials with different refractive indices. VCSEL 700 may also include a cladding layer 740, an active region 750, and a cladding layer 760, where cladding layers 740 and 760 may be p-doped or n-doped and may inject carriers into active region 750. Active region 750 may include one or more quantum wells or quantum dots, and QW barrier layers. Carriers may recombine in active region 750 to emit photons. A top DBR 770 may be formed on cladding layer 760, and may be similar to bottom DBR 730. Top DBR 770 and bottom DBR 730 (and bulk DBR 720) may form a plane-parallel laser cavity that can confine photons. Top DBR 770, cladding layer 760, active region 750, cladding layer 740, and bottom DBR 730 may be vertically etched to form individual VCSELs of a desired size with a desired pitch on bulk DBR 720 and substrate 710.

VCSEL 700 may have a linear dimension less than about 100 μm, 50 μm, 30 μm, 20 μm, or 10 μm. For example, in some embodiments, the parallel laser cavity may have a length about 10 μm. In the example shown in FIG. 7A, bottom DBR 730 and bulk DBR 720, in combination, may have a reflectivity close to 100% to reflect almost all incident photons. Top DBR 770 may have a reflectivity less than 100%, such that a portion of the emitted photons may be transmitted out of the laser cavity through top DBR 770. VCSEL 700 may emit infrared light with a high efficiency and a high power, such as from about 1 mW to about 10 mW or higher.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a tunable VCSEL 705 according to certain embodiments. The vertical cavity in tunable VCSEL 705 may be formed by a first reflector 724 and a second reflector 752, where first reflector 724 and second reflector 752 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light, and second reflector 752 may have a low reflectivity or may be anti-reflective for visible light.

Tunable VCSEL 705 may include a drive circuit 712 that may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a VCSEL 722 by, for example, die-to-wafer bonding or wafer-to-wafer bonding. Drive circuit 712 may include various circuits formed on a silicon substrate as described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 6. Drive circuit 712 may be bonded to the electrodes of VCSEL 722 to drive VCSEL 722 to generated continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed IR light having a sufficiently long duration. The intensity of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 722 and thus the intensity of the visible light from tunable VCSEL 705 may be controlled by the drive current or voltage supplied to VCSEL 722 by drive circuit 712.

VCSEL 722 may include a first electrode 732 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 734, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 732 and second electrode 734. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 724, an active region 726 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 7B), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7.

First reflector 724 and second reflector 752 may each include a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) having different refractive indices and/or thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. In some embodiments, at least one of first reflector 724 or second reflector 752 may include a high-contrast grating (HCG) that may include a layer of subwavelength grating made of materials with a large refractive index contrast. The HCG may have a broad bandwidth of high reflectivity and may be used tunable mirror. Active region 726 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like.

In the illustrated example, tunable VCSEL 705 includes a micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) device 762 in the tunable vertical cavity formed by first reflector 724 and second reflector 752, where second reflector 752 may be formed on MEMS device 762 and thus may be movable by MEMS device 762. In some embodiments, other micro-actuators or nano-actuators, such as a micro-motor, a piezoelectric actuator, a ferroelectric actuator, a magnetic actuator, an ultrasonic actuator, or the like, may be used to move second reflector 752. Light emitted by VCSEL 722 and oscillating within the vertical cavity formed by first reflector 724 and second reflector 752 may be continuously tunable by tuning the location of second reflector 752 using MEMS device 762 or another actuator to tune the optical path length and thus the resonant wavelength of the vertical cavity.

As described above, the spectral coverage of lasers based on III-V semiconductors (e.g., InGaN or AlGaAs) may be limited by properties (e.g., bandgaps) of available gain media. It can be very difficult to make VCSELs for some colors (e.g., green) and having high efficiencies. It may be even more challenging to manufacture visible light laser sources for multiple colors on a same chip or wafer. Furthermore, current visible light sources may typically have large sizes and thus may not be suitable for individually addressable high-density visible light source array. Integration of III-V semiconductor devices with photonic integrated circuits (PICs) may pose additional challenges to the manufacturing.

According to certain embodiments, nonlinear effects of certain nonlinear gain media may be used to generate visible light in a wide spectral range using IR pump light from VCSELs. In one example, a visible semiconductor light source may include a VCSEL that may emit light in the near-infrared (NIR) or other infrared (IR) band with a high efficiency. The visible semiconductor light source may also include a micro-resonator including a third-order nonlinear material and thus may convert the IR light into visible light using degenerate four-wave mixing (also referred to as third-order optical parametric oscillation (OPO)) caused by the nonlinear optical effect (e.g., third-order nonlinear effect χ⁽³⁾) of the micro-resonator.

Four-wave mixing is a nonlinear effect arising from a third-order optic nonlinearity (Kerr effect) described by a χ⁽³⁾ coefficient. Four-wave mixing can occur when light having two frequency components vi and ν₂ propagate together in an optical waveguide including a third-order nonlinear medium. A refractive index modulation due to the third-order nonlinear effect may cause the generation of light having two additional frequency components ν₃ and ν₄, where ν₄=ν₁+ν₂−ν₃ and the light having frequencies ν₃ and ν₄ may experience parametric amplification in the nonlinear medium. This process may be referred to as non-degenerate four-wave mixing. When the two frequency components ν₁ and ν₂ of the four frequencies coincide, degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) may occur, where a single-frequency pump wave (e.g., having a frequency ν_p) may cause the generation and amplification of a signal wave (having a frequency vs) and an idler wave (having a frequency ν_i), and where a frequency phase-matching condition 2ν_p=ν_s+ν_i may be met. The signal wave and the idler wave may generally have different frequencies.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate an example of generating a higher frequency light signal using lower frequency pump light through degenerate four-wave mixing. Two pump photons 810 having a frequency ν_p may be summed to generate a virtual excited state 815, which may be used to generate a pair of photons 820 and 830 with frequencies vs and vi, respectively. Due to energy conservation, frequencies vs and vi of photons 820 and 830 may be symmetrical with respect to frequency ν_p of pump photons 810 (i.e., |ν_s−ν_p|=|ν_p−ν_i|) as show in FIG. 8B.

Four-wave mixing is a phase-sensitive process. Its effect may accumulate over a longer distance (e.g., through many loops in a ring resonator) if a phase-matching condition for constructive interference is satisfied (which may be influenced by chromatic dispersion and/or nonlinear phase shifts). A ring resonator may include a closed-loop waveguide coupled to an input coupler and/or an output coupler. When light at a resonant wavelength of the ring resonator propagates through the closed-loop waveguide, its intensity builds up over multiple round-trips due to the constructive interference between loops. Only light of a few wavelengths may resonate within the closed-loop waveguide. The optical path length of a ring resonator may be 2πr×n_eff, where r is the radius of the ring resonator and n_eff is the effective refractive index of the ring resonator. To meet the resonant condition for constructive interference, the optical path length of the ring (loop) may be an integer multiple of the wavelength of the resonant light: m×λ_m=2πr×n_eff, where λ_m is the resonant wavelength and m is the mode number (a positive integer) of the ring resonator. The resonant frequency or wavelength may be tuned by changing the effective refractive index n_eff of the ring resonator and/or by changing the wavelength of the pump light.

FIG. 8C illustrates multiple longitudinal resonant modes of an example of a micro-resonator (e.g., a ring resonator). FIG. 8C shows three longitudinal resonant modes m−1, m, and m+1. The full-width half-magnitude (FWHM) of the transmission spectra of a longitudinal mode is δν. The difference between the frequencies of two adjacent modes is the free spectral range ν_fsr. The quality factor Q and the finesse F of the micro-resonator can be described by:

Q=λδ⁢v, and⁢ F=vfsrδ⁢v,

where λ is the operation wavelength. The quality factor can be used to determine the spectral range of the resonance condition for a given ring resonator, and is also useful for quantifying the amount of round-trip loss in the resonator. A low Q factor may be caused by large loss. The finesse F may also relate to the resonator loss, and thus may indicate the round-trip resonator loss.

OPO is an optical parametric amplification (OPA) within an optical resonator (e.g., resonant optical cavity). For example, in a ring resonator, OPO is a cavity-enhanced DFWM, where all three light waves (pump wave, signal wave, and idler wave) meet the resonance condition of the same cavity and therefore can resonate in the ring resonator to greatly enhance the nonlinear conversion through resonance-enhanced field strength build-up. Therefore, the frequency of the pump wave may be limited to a set of longitudinal resonant modes determined by the optical path length of the ring resonator at the pump wavelength. Similarly, the frequency of the signal wave may be limited to a set of longitudinal resonant modes determined by the optical path length of the ring resonator at the signal wavelength, and the frequency of the idler wave may be limited to a set of longitudinal resonant modes determined by the optical path length of the ring resonator at the idler wavelength. Using a low-loss optical resonator (e.g., a ring resonator), the nonlinear conversion efficiency can be significantly boosted (>10%) within a resonator having a compact footprint (e.g., with a radius<10 μm for some high refractive index materials such as SiC). Since the wavelength (color) of the generated signal wave can be controlled by the optical path length of the cavity to meet the resonance condition, the resonant optical cavity (e.g., ring resonator) may be designed to generate light of any color in the visible range.

According to certain embodiments, the pump light for the DFWM in a resonant optical cavity (e.g., a micro-resonator) may be IR light generated by a VCSEL, where the micro-resonator may be positioned inside or outside the VCSEL cavity in either an intra-cavity configuration or an extra-cavity configuration, respectively. The IR light emitted by the VCSEL may be coupled into the micro-resonator directly or by a coupling structure (e.g., a grating coupler). In some embodiments, the IR light emitted by the VCSEL may be coupled into a waveguide by a coupling structure (e.g., a grating coupler or nano-resonators) inside or outside the VCSEL cavity and may then be coupled from the waveguide into the micro-resonator. In some embodiments, the grating coupler may include an apodized, chirped, and/or slanted grating to achieve the desired coupling direction and the desired coupling efficiency. In some embodiments, a visible light source may include multiple coupling structures in either the extra-cavity or the intra-cavity configuration.

The micro-resonator may include a low-loss structure in which light may travel for a long time before being absorbed, scattered, or converted. As described above, the color of the light generated through the OPO process can be controlled by the geometry and material (and thus the effective refractive index) of the micro-resonator. According to certain embodiments, the micro-resonator may include, for example, a micro-ring resonator as described above, a photonic crystal point defect cavity, a photonic crystal ring (line-defect) cavity, a plasmonic resonator, a waveguide grating-based resonator, or the like. For example, when a point defect is created in a photonic crystal, the defect may pull a light mode into the band gap and trap the light mode (forming a resonant cavity) because such a state is forbidden from propagating in the bulk crystal, and the density of the states at the resonant frequency can be very high in the resonant cavity to achieve a high efficiency. A photonic crystal line-defect cavity may be formed by, for example, omitting multiples holes in a photonic crystal slab.

According to certain embodiments, the visible light generated by the degenerate four-wave mixing in the resonant cavity of the micro-resonator may be coupled out of the micro-resonator into a waveguide of a PIC through side coupling, or may be coupled out of the micro-resonator into free space through vertical coupling by a coupling structure, such as a grating coupler. In some embodiments, the grating coupler may include an apodized, chirped, and/or slanted grating to achieve the desired coupling direction and high coupling efficiency.

FIG. 9A shows a cross-sectional view of an example of a structure 900 including a coupling structure 920 configured to vertically couple light generated in an optical resonator 910 out of optical resonator 910 according to certain embodiments. FIG. 9B shows a top view of the example of structure 900 of FIG. 9A according to certain embodiments. In the illustrated example, optical resonator 910 may include a micro-ring resonator. In some embodiments, optical resonator 910 may have a shape different from a ring shape, such as an oval shape, a racetrack shape, a spiral shape (e.g., an Archimedean spiral shape), or another closed loop. Optical resonator 910 may include a low-loss material having a third-order nonlinearity. In some embodiments, to reduce the footprint of optical resonator 910, optical resonator 910 may include a high refractive index material, such as SiN or SiC. Coupling structure 920 may include a grating coupler formed on optical resonator 910, where the grating coupler may be along an inner circumference of optical resonator 910, on top or bottom of optical resonator 910, along an outer circumference of optical resonator 910, or any combination of the aforementioned positions. The grating coupler may include a slanted grating having a grating vector that includes a component in the z direction, such that light propagating in a ring in an x-y plane in optical resonator 910 may be vertically coupled out of optical resonator 910 by the grating coupler.

FIG. 9C illustrates a top view of an example of a structure 902 configured to couple light generated in an optical resonator 930 into an output waveguide 950 according to certain embodiments. In the example shown in FIG. 9C, IR pump light from a VCSEL may be coupled from a pump waveguide 940 into optical resonator 930, and the generated visible light (e.g., the signal wave) may be coupled into output waveguide 950. The idler wave may be coupled into pump waveguide 940 or output waveguide 950. In some embodiments, a wavelength-division demultiplexer may be used to separate the signal wave and the idler wave.

FIG. 9D illustrates a top view of an example of a structure 904 configured to couple light generated in an optical resonator into a waveguide 980 according to certain embodiments. In the illustrated example, IR pump light from a VCSEL may be at least partially coupled from waveguide 980 into optical resonator 960, and the generated visible light (e.g., the signal wave) may be coupled back into waveguide 980. The idler wave may be coupled into waveguide 980 or another waveguide 970. In some embodiments, a wavelength-division demultiplexer may be used to separate the signal wave and the uncoupled pump wave in waveguide 980. In some embodiments, the uncoupled pump wave may be looped back into waveguide 980 and coupled into optical resonator 960.

FIG. 10A illustrates an example of a visible light source 1000 including a micro-resonator 1040 in a vertical cavity and directly pumped by an infrared light VCSEL 1020 in the vertical cavity according to certain embodiments, where visible light generated in micro-resonator 1040 is vertically coupled out of the vertical cavity. FIG. 10B illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1000 of FIG. 10A. The vertical cavity in visible light source 1000 may be formed by a first reflector 1022 and a second reflector 1050, where first reflector 1022 and second reflector 1050 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >805, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light, and second reflector 1050 may have a low reflectivity or may be anti-reflective for visible light.

Visible light source 1000 may include a drive circuit 1010 that may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to VCSEL 1020 by, for example, die-to-wafer bonding or wafer-to-wafer bonding. Drive circuit 1010 may include various circuits formed on a silicon substrate as described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 6. Drive circuit 1010 may be bonded to the electrodes of VCSEL 1020 to drive VCSEL 1020 to generated continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed IR light having a sufficiently long duration. The intensity of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1020 and thus the intensity of the visible light from visible light source 1000 may be controlled by the drive current or voltage supplied to VCSEL 1020 by drive circuit 1010.

VCSEL 1020 may include a first electrode 1030 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1032, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1030 and second electrode 1032. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1022, an active region 1024 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 10A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7. First reflector 1022 may include, for example, a high-contrast grating (HCG) as described with respect to FIG. 7, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) having different refractive indices and/or thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1024 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like.

In some embodiments, VCSEL 1020 may include a partial reflector 1026 for IR light, where the partial reflector may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1024 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1020 with first reflector 1022. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1026 and first reflector 1022 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1020 may include a polarizer 1028. Polarizer 1028 may be used to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1020 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into micro-resonator 1040 by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1020.

The IR light emitted by VCSEL 1020 may be coupled into micro-resonator 1040 directly or through a coupling structure, such as a slanted grating or nano-resonators. As described above, micro-resonator 1040 may include a closed-looped waveguide having any suitable shape (e.g., a ring, oval, spiral, or racetrack shape) and having a low loss such that a photon may propagate in the closed-looped waveguide for a long period of time (e.g., about a thousand or more loops) before being absorbed, scattered, or converted. The waveguide material may have a third-order nonlinearity such that the OPO (e.g., DFWM) process may occur in the closed-looped waveguide. The material and geometry of micro-resonator 1040 may be selected such that the IR light coupled into micro-resonator 1040, and the visible light (signal wave) and idler wave generated by the DFWM process may resonate in micro-resonator 1040, which may enhance the DFWM process. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1040 may include a material that has a high refractive index, such that the physical dimension of micro-resonator 1040 may be reduced while achieving the desired optical path length of the closed-looped waveguide. VCSEL 1020 and micro-resonator 1040 may be surrounded by dielectric materials 1060, which may include, for example, an oxide such as silicon dioxide or a polymer material. In some embodiments, visible light source 1000 may include two or more micro-resonators arranged vertically and configured to generate visible light of the same color.

Visible light generated in micro-resonator 1040 by the DFWM process may be vertically coupled out of micro-resonator 1040 by a coupling structure 1042, which may include a grating or nano-resonators as described above, for example, with respect to FIGS. 9A and 9B. The visible light coupled out of micro-resonator 1040 may be transmitted by second reflector 1050 with little or no loss since second reflector 1050 may be anti-reflective for visible light as described above. As first reflector 1022, second reflector 1050 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1050 for IR light, while visible light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may destructively interfere to reduce the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1050 for visible light. As such, IR light emitted by VCSEL 1020 and not coupled into micro-resonator 1040 may be reflected back to micro-resonator 1040 by second reflector 1050 and/or first reflector 1022, and may be at least partially coupled into micro-resonator 1040 to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR light into micro-resonator 1040 and thus the efficiency of visible light source 1000. Micro-resonator 1040, coupling structure 1042, and second reflector 1050 may be formed before or after bonding VCSEL 1020 to drive circuit 1010.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example of a visible light source 1100 including a micro-resonator 1150 outside of a vertical cavity and directly pumped by an infrared light VCSEL 1120 according to certain embodiments. FIG. 11B illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1100 of FIG. 11A. Visible light source 1100 may include a drive circuit 1110 that may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to VCSEL 1120 by, for example, die-to-wafer bonding or wafer-to-wafer bonding. Drive circuit 1110 may include various circuits formed on a silicon substrate as described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 6. Drive circuit 1110 may be bonded to the electrodes of VCSEL 1120 to drive VCSEL 1120 to generated continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed IR light having a sufficiently long duration and a desired intensity. The intensity of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1120 and thus the intensity of the visible light from visible light source 1100 may be controlled by the drive current or voltage supplied to VCSEL 1120 by drive circuit 1110.

VCSEL 1120 may include a first electrode 1140 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1142, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1140 and second electrode 1142. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, a first reflector 1122, an active region 1124 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 11A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7. First reflector 1122 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. First reflector 1122 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. Active region 1124 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. VCSEL 1120 may also include a second reflector 1130 that may be a partial reflector configured to reflect a portion of the IR light emitted by active region 1124 while transmitting a portion of the IR light emitted by active region 1124. Second reflector 1130 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by conductive materials, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs). First reflector 1122 and second reflector 1130 may form the vertical cavity in visible light source 1100. The vertical cavity may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1120 may include a polarizer (not shown in FIG. 11A) as described above with respect to FIG. 10A. The polarizer may be used to control the polarization mode of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1120 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into micro-resonator 1150 by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent.

The IR light emitted by VCSEL 1120 may be coupled into micro-resonator 1150 directly or through a coupling structure, such as a slanted grating or nano-resonators. As described above, micro-resonator 1150 may include a closed-looped waveguide having any suitable shape (e.g., a ring, oval, spiral, racetrack shape) and having a low loss such that a photon may propagate in the closed-looped waveguide for a long period of time (e.g., about a thousand or more loops) before being absorbed, scattered, or converted. The waveguide material may have a third-order nonlinearity such that the OPO (e.g., DFWM) process may occur in the closed-looped waveguide. The size and material of micro-resonator 1150 may be selected such that the IR light coupled into micro-resonator 1150, and the visible light (signal wave) and idler wave generated by the DFWM process may resonate in micro-resonator 1150, which may enhance the DFWM process. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1150 may include a material that has a high refractive index (e.g., SiN, SiC, etc.), such that the physical dimension of micro-resonator 1150 may be reduced while achieving the desired optical path length of the closed-looped waveguide. VCSEL 1120 and micro-resonator 1150 may be surrounded by dielectric materials 1160, which may include, for example, an oxide such as silicon dioxide.

Visible light generated in micro-resonator 1150 by the DFWM process may be vertically coupled out of micro-resonator 1150 by a coupling structure 1152, which may include a grating or nano-resonators as described above, for example, with respect to FIGS. 9A and 9B. The visible light coupled out of micro-resonator 1150 may be vertically coupled out of visible light source 1100. Micro-resonator 1150 and coupling structure 1152 may be formed before or after bonding VCSEL 1120 to drive circuit 1110. In some embodiments, the visible light generated in micro-resonator 1150 may be coupled to a waveguide as described with respect to FIGS. 9C and 9D.

In some embodiments, a feedback cavity structure (a DBR structure or a hot mirror that reflects IR light and transmits visible light) may be formed on top of micro-resonator 1150 and coupling structure 1152 to redirect IR light that is not coupled into micro-resonator 1150 yet back to micro-resonator 1150 to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into micro-resonator 1150 and the efficiency of visible light source 1100.

FIG. 12A illustrates an example of a visible light source 1200 including a micro-resonator 1260 pumped by an infrared light VCSEL 1220 according to certain embodiments, where the infrared light is coupled into the micro-resonator through an input coupling structure and a waveguide on a same layer as micro-resonator 1260. FIG. 12B illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1200 of FIG. 12A. Visible light source 1200 may include a drive circuit 1210 that may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to VCSEL 1220 by, for example, die-to-wafer or wafer-to-wafer bonding. Drive circuit 1210 may include various circuits formed on a silicon substrate as described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 6. Drive circuit 1210 may be bonded to the electrodes of VCSEL 1220 to drive VCSEL 1220 to generated continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed IR light having a sufficiently long duration and a desired intensity. The intensity of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1220 and thus the intensity of the visible light from visible light source 1200 may be controlled by the drive current or voltage supplied to VCSEL 1220 by drive circuit 1210.

VCSEL 1220 may be similar to VCSEL 1120 and may include a first electrode 1240 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1242, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1240 and second electrode 1242. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, a first reflector 1222, an active region 1224 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 12A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7. First reflector 1222 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric or doped or undoped semiconductor materials of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. First reflector 1222 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. Active region 1224 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. VCSEL 1220 may also include a second reflector 1230 that may be a partial reflector configured to reflect a portion of the IR light emitted by active region 1224 while transmitting a portion of the IR light emitted by active region 1224. Second reflector 1230 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by conductive materials, such as doped or undoped GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs). First reflector 1222 and second reflector 1230 may form the vertical cavity in visible light source 1200. The vertical cavity may help to select the output wavelength range of the IR light and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1220 may include a polarization element (e.g., a polarizer, a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, which is not shown in FIG. 12A) as described above with respect to FIG. 10A. The polarizer may be used to control the polarization mode of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1220 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into micro-resonator 1260 by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent.

The IR light emitted by VCSEL 1220 may be coupled into a waveguide 1250 directly or through a coupling structure 1252 (which may be above or below waveguide 1250), such as a slanted grating or nano-resonators. The IR light propagating in waveguide 1250 may be coupled into micro-resonator 1260. In the illustrated example, waveguide 1250 and micro-resonator 1260 may be on a same waveguide material layer (e.g., a SiN or SiC layer). As described above, micro-resonator 1260 may include a closed-looped waveguide having any suitable shape (e.g., a ring, oval, spiral, racetrack shape) and having a low loss such that a photon may propagate in the closed-looped waveguide for a long period of time (e.g., about one thousand or more loops) before being absorbed, scattered, or converted. The waveguide material may have a third-order nonlinearity such that the OPO (e.g., DFWM) process may occur in the closed-looped waveguide. The geometry and material of micro-resonator 1260 may be selected such that the IR light coupled into micro-resonator 1260, and the visible light (signal wave) and idler wave generated by the DFWM process may resonate in micro-resonator 1260, which may enhance the DFWM process. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1260 may include a material (e.g., SiN, SiC, etc.) that has a high refractive index, such that the physical dimension of micro-resonator 1260 may be reduced while achieving the desired optical path length of the closed-looped waveguide. VCSEL 1220, waveguide 1250, and micro-resonator 1260 may be surrounded by dielectric materials 1270, which may include, for example, an oxide such as silicon dioxide.

In some embodiments, visible light generated in micro-resonator 1260 by the DFWM process may be vertically coupled out of micro-resonator 1260 by a coupling structure, such as a grating or nano-resonators described above. The visible light coupled out of micro-resonator 1260 may be vertically coupled out of visible light source 1200 into free space. In some embodiments, visible light generated in micro-resonator 1260 may be coupled to a waveguide (e.g., waveguide 1250 or another waveguide closely coupled to micro-resonator 1260) and a photonic integrated circuit as described with respect to FIGS. 9C and 9D.

In some embodiments, a feedback cavity structure (a DBR structure or a hot mirror that reflects IR light and transmits visible light) may be formed on top of waveguide 1250 and coupling structure 1252 to redirect IR light that is not coupled into waveguide 1250 yet back to waveguide 1250 to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into waveguide 1250 and the efficiency of visible light source 1200.

FIG. 12C illustrates an example of a visible light source 1202 including a micro-resonator 1262 pumped by infrared light VCSEL 1220 according to certain embodiments, where the infrared light is coupled into micro-resonator 1262 through coupling structure 1252 and waveguide 1250 that is on a different vertical layer from micro-resonator 1262. FIG. 12D illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1202 of FIG. 12C. Visible light source 1202 may be similar to visible light source 1200 but may differ in, for example, in visible light source 1202, micro-resonator 1262 and waveguide 1250 are on different waveguide layers. In the illustrated example, micro-resonator 1262 may be above waveguide 1250. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1262 may be below waveguide 1250. Even though not shown in FIGS. 12C and 12D, visible light source 1202 may include a coupling structure (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) configured to vertically couple visible light generated in micro-resonator 1262 out of micro-resonator 1262, or may include a waveguide closely coupled to micro-resonator 1262 and configured to couple visible light generated in micro-resonator 1262 into a photonic integrated circuit.

FIG. 13A illustrates yet another example of a visible light source 1300 including a micro-resonator 1370 pumped by an infrared light VCSEL 1320 in a vertical cavity according to certain embodiments, where the infrared light is coupled into micro-resonator 1370 through an input coupling structure 1352 in the vertical cavity and a waveguide 1350 on a same vertical layer as micro-resonator 1370. FIG. 13B illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1300 of FIG. 13A. The vertical cavity in visible light source 1300 may be formed by a first reflector 1322 and a second reflector 1330, where first reflector 1322 and second reflector 1330 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light.

Visible light source 1300 may include a drive circuit 1310 that may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to VCSEL 1320 by, for example, die-to-wafer or wafer-to-wafer bonding. Drive circuit 1310 may include various circuits formed on a silicon substrate as described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 6. Drive circuit 1310 may be bonded to the electrodes of VCSEL 1320 to drive VCSEL 1320 to generated continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed IR light having a sufficiently long duration and a desired intensity. The intensity of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1320 and thus the intensity of the visible light from visible light source 1300 may be controlled by the drive current or voltage supplied to VCSEL 1320 by drive circuit 1310.

VCSEL 1320 may include a first electrode 1340 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1342, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1340 and second electrode 1342. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1322, an active region 1324 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 13A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7. First reflector 1322 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1324 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like.

In some embodiments, VCSEL 1320 may include a partial reflector 1326 for IR light, where the partial reflector may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1324 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1320 with first reflector 1322. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1326 and first reflector 1322 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1320 may include a polarizer 1328. Polarizer 1328 may be used to control the polarization mode of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1320 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into waveguide 1350 by input coupling structure 1352 (e.g., a grating coupler or nano-resonators), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1320.

The IR light emitted by VCSEL 1320 may be coupled into waveguide 1350 by input coupling structure 1352, such as a slanted grating or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures). The IR light propagating in waveguide 1350 may be coupled into micro-resonator 1370. In the illustrated example, waveguide 1350 and micro-resonator 1370 may be on a same waveguide material layer (e.g., a SiN or SiC layer). As described above, micro-resonator 1370 may include a closed-looped waveguide having any suitable shape (e.g., a ring, oval, spiral, racetrack shape) and having a low loss such that a photon may propagate in the closed-looped waveguide for a long period of time (e.g., about 1 million or more loops) before being absorbed, scattered, or converted. The waveguide material may have a third-order nonlinearity, such that an OPO (e.g., DFWM) process may occur in the closed-looped waveguide. The size and material of micro-resonator 1370 may be selected such that the IR light coupled into micro-resonator 1370, and the visible light (signal wave) and idler wave generated by the DFWM process may resonate in micro-resonator 1370, which may enhance the DFWM process. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1370 may include a material (e.g., SiN, SiC, or the like) that has a high refractive index, such that the physical dimension of micro-resonator 1370 may be reduced while still achieving the desired optical path length of the closed-looped waveguide. VCSEL 1320, waveguide 1350, and micro-resonator 1370 may be surrounded by dielectric materials 1360, which may include, for example, an oxide such as silicon dioxide.

In some embodiments, visible light generated in micro-resonator 1370 by the DFWM process may be vertically coupled out of micro-resonator 1370 by a coupling structure, such as a grating or nano-resonators described above. The visible light coupled out of micro-resonator 1370 may be vertically coupled out of visible light source 1300. In some embodiments, visible light generated in micro-resonator 1370 may be coupled to a waveguide (e.g., waveguide 1350 or another waveguide closely coupled to micro-resonator 1370) and a photonic integrated circuit as described with respect to FIGS. 9C and 9D.

As first reflector 1322, second reflector 1330 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1330 for IR light. As such, IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1320 and is not coupled into waveguide 1350 yet may be reflected back to waveguide 1350 by second reflector 1330 and/or first reflector 1322, and may be at least partially coupled into waveguide 1350 to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into micro-resonator 1370 and the efficiency of visible light source 1300.

FIG. 13C illustrates an example of a visible light source 1302 including a micro-resonator 1372 pumped by infrared light VCSEL 1320 according to certain embodiments, where infrared light emitted by infrared light VCSEL 1320 is coupled into micro-resonator 1372 through input coupling structure 1352 in the vertical cavity and waveguide 1350 on a different vertical layer from micro-resonator 1372. FIG. 13D illustrates a top view of the example of visible light source 1302 of FIG. 13C. Visible light source 1302 may be similar to visible light source 1300 but may differ in, for example, in visible light source 1302, micro-resonator 1372 and waveguide 1350 are on different waveguide layers. In the illustrated example, micro-resonator 1372 may be above waveguide 1350. In some embodiments, micro-resonator 1372 may be below waveguide 1350. Even though not shown in FIGS. 13C and 13D, visible light source 1302 may include a coupling structure (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) configured to vertically couple visible light generated in micro-resonator 1372 out of micro-resonator 1372, or may include a waveguide closely coupled to micro-resonator 1372 and configured to couple visible light generated in micro-resonator 1372 into a photonic integrated circuit.

In color image display systems, it may be desirable to integrate visible light sources for multiple colors on a same chip. To improve resolution of the displayed images, it may also be desirable to use a high-density source array with a large number of individually addressable light sources. Current visible light sources may generally have large footprints and may not be suitable for high-density source arrays with individual addressable light sources. VCSEL-pumped visible light sources described above may be used to make a high-density source array that includes individual addressable light sources for visible light of different colors.

According to certain embodiments, a device may include an array of visible light sources, where the visible light sources may emit visible light of different colors, such as red, blue, or green. In one example, each visible light source may include one micro-resonator, and the micro-resonators (and/or VCSELs) in some visible light sources may be different from the micro-resonators (and/or VCSELs) in some other visible light sources, such that the visible light sources may emit light of different colors. In some embodiments, each visible light source in the array of visible light source may be configured or tunable to emit light of different colors. For example, each visible light source may include a pump VCSEL and multiple micro-resonators having different parameters, where each of the multiple micro-resonators may be configured to generate visible light of a different respective color, and, in some embodiments, each of the multiple micro-resonators may be tuned to adjust the intensity of the visible light generated by the micro-resonator. In some embodiments, a visible light source may include a tunable pump VCSEL (having a tunable cavity) that may be tuned to emit pump light having different wavelengths, and a micro-resonator that may have multiple resonant modes and may generate visible light of different colors using the pump light having different wavelengths.

FIG. 14A illustrates an example of an array of visible light sources 1400 configured to emit visible light of different colors according to certain embodiments, where each visible light source in the array includes a micro-resonator in a vertical cavity and directly pumped by an infrared light VCSEL in the vertical cavity, and the visible light generated in the micro-resonator is coupled vertically out of the vertical cavity. FIG. 14A shows a red light source 1406, a green light source 1404, and a blue light source 1402 in the array of visible light sources 1400. Each light source shown in FIG. 14A may be an example of visible light source 1000 or 1100, and the visible light sources in the array of visible light sources may be fabricated on a same wafer or a same die. The wafer or die may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a drive circuit 1410, such as a CMOS backplane, using various wafer-to-wafer bonding techniques or die-to-wafer bonding techniques.

Each light source 1402, 1404, or 1406 may include a VCSEL 1420 that emits IR light. As described above with respect to, for example, FIGS. 10 and 11, VCSEL 1420 may include a first electrode 1430 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1432, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1430 and second electrode 1432. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1422, an active region 1424 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 14A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped, as described above with respect to FIG. 7. First reflector 1422 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1424 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. VCSELs 1420 in light sources 1402, 1404, and 1406 may have the same structure and may emit IR light at about the same wavelength. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1420 may include a partial reflector for IR light (such as partial reflector 1026, not shown in FIG. 14A), where the partial reflector may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1424 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1420 with first reflector 1422. The resonant cavity formed by the partial reflector and first reflector 1422 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light emitted by VCSELs 1420 and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1420 may include a polarizer (not shown in FIG. 14A), such as polarize 1028. The polarizer may be used to control the polarization mode of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1420 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into the micro-resonator by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent.

In the illustrated example, each light source 1402, 1404, or 1406 may include a micro-resonator, where the micro-resonator for each light source 1402, 1404, or 1406 may have a different respective design and thus may generate visible light of different wavelengths. The different respective design may include a different combination of, for example, loop shape (e.g., ring, oval, spiral, racetrack, etc.), dimension, material (and thus refractive index), and the like. For example, red light source 1406 may include a micro-resonator 1444, the shape, dimension, and material of which may be selected such that red light may be generated in micro-resonator 1444 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1420 as the pump light. Red light source 1406 may also include a coupling structure 1454 configured to vertically couple the red light generated in micro-resonator 1444 out of micro-resonator 1444. Similarly, green light source 1404 may include a micro-resonator 1442 configured such that green light may be generated in micro-resonator 1442 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1420 as the pump light, and may include a coupling structure 1452 configured to vertically couple the green light generated in micro-resonator 1442 out of micro-resonator 1442. Blue light source 1402 may include a micro-resonator 1440 configured such that green light may be generated in micro-resonator 1440 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1420 as the pump light, and may include a coupling structure 1450 configured to vertically couple the blue light generated in micro-resonator 1440 out of micro-resonator 1440.

As illustrated, each light source 1402, 1404, or 1406 may also include a second reflector 1460, 1462, or 1464 configured to reflect IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1420 but has not been coupled into the micro-resonator yet back to the micro-resonator or a coupling structure for coupling the IR light into the micro-resonator. Second reflector 1460, 1462, or 1464 may have a close to 100% reflectivity for IR light emitted by VCSEL 1420 and may have a close to 0% reflectivity for the visible light generated in the corresponding micro-resonators and coupled out of the corresponding micro-resonators by corresponding coupling structures. For example, second reflector 1460 may be anti-reflective for blue light, second reflector 1462 may be anti-reflective for green light, and second reflector 1464 may be anti-reflective for red light.

FIGS. 14B and 14C illustrate top views of examples of the array of visible light sources 1400. The examples of the array of visible light sources 1400 shown in FIGS. 14B and 14C may be used as an active display panel or may be used as the light sources for the backlight units of liquid crystal displays, such as liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) displays. In the illustrated examples, red light sources 1406 may be grouped in some columns, green light sources 1404 may be grouped in some other columns, and blue light sources 1402 may be grouped in some other columns, where the columns of light sources for different colors may be interleaved. In some embodiments, light sources 1402, 1404, and 1406 may be arranged in other manners. For example, the array of visible light sources may include pixel units arranged in a two-dimensional array, where each pixel unit may include a red light source 1406, a green light source 1404, and a blue light source 1402 arranged on the vertices of a triangle. The light sources of different colors in an array of light sources may be fabricated on a same wafer or a same die using a same process, rather than being manufactured separately and then pick-and-placed on a CMOS backplane. The pitch of the array of visible light sources 1400 and the size of each light source may be selected based on the applications. In some embodiments, the diameters of each light source may be less than about 50 μm, less than about 30 μm, less than about 20 μm, or less than about 10 μm. The pitch of the array of visible light sources 1400 may also be less than about 50 μm, less than about 30 μm, less than about 20 μm, or less than about 10 μm.

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate an example of an array of visible light sources 1500 according to certain embodiments, where each visible light source 1502 may emit visible light in multiple colors. Each visible light source 1502 in the array of visible light sources 1500 includes multiple micro-resonators positioned in a vertical cavity formed by a first reflector 1522 and a second reflector 1530, where the multiple micro-resonators are pumped by a same IR-emitting VCSEL 1520 in the vertical cavity to generate visible light of different colors. First reflector 1522 and second reflector 1530 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. In some embodiments, first reflector 1522 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for visible light. Second reflector 1530 may be anti-reflective for visible light. The visible light of different colors generated in the micro-resonators is vertically coupled out of the micro-resonators by respective coupling structures, and may be transmitted out of the vertical cavity through second reflector 1530.

As illustrated, visible light source 1502 may include a drive circuit 1510 formed on a CMOS backplane, where the CMOS backplane may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a wafer including VCSELs 1520 fabricated thereon. The multiple micro-resonators and second reflector 1530 may be formed before or after bonding the wafer including VCSELs 1520 to the CMOS backplane. VCSEL 1520 may include a first electrode 1540 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1542, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1540 and second electrode 1542. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1522, an active region 1524 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 15A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped. First reflector 1522 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1524 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1520 may include a partial reflector 1526 for IR light, where partial reflector 1526 may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1524 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1520 with first reflector 1522. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1526 and first reflector 1522 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1520 may include a polarizer 1528. Polarizer 1528 may be used to control the polarization mode of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into the micro-resonator by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520.

In the illustrated example, each visible light source 1502 may include a first micro-resonator 1550, a second micro-resonator 1560, and a third micro-resonator 1570 for generating visible light of different colors using IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 as pump light in DFWM processes. First micro-resonator 1550, second micro-resonator 1560, and third micro-resonator 1570 may have different respective designs, and thus may generate visible light of different colors using the same pump light. The different respective designs may include different combinations of, for example, loop shape (e.g., ring, oval, spiral, racetrack, etc.), dimension, material (and thus refractive index), and the like. For example, the shape, dimension, and material of third micro-resonator 1570 may be selected such that red light may be generated in third micro-resonator 1570 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1572 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the red light generated in third micro-resonator 1570 out of third micro-resonator 1570. Similarly, the shape, dimension, and material of second micro-resonator 1560 may be selected such that green light may be generated in second micro-resonator 1560 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1562 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the green light generated in second micro-resonator 1560 out of second micro-resonator 1560. The shape, dimension, and material of first micro-resonator 1550 may be selected such that blue light may be generated in first micro-resonator 1550 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1520 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1552 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the blue light generated in first micro-resonator 1550 out of first micro-resonator 1550. First micro-resonator 1550, second micro-resonator 1560, and third micro-resonator 1570 may be arranged vertically in any suitable order. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1502 may include two or more different micro-resonators configured to generate visible light in two or more colors. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1502 may include multiple micro-resonators, where at least two of the micro-resonators may be configured to generate visible light of the same color.

The visible light coupled out of first micro-resonator 1550, second micro-resonator 1560, and third micro-resonator 1570 may be coupled out of visible light source 1502 through second reflector 1530 with little or no loss since second reflector 1530 may be anti-reflective for visible light as described above. As first reflector 1522, second reflector 1530 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1530 for IR light, while visible light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may destructively interfere to reduce the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1530 for visible light. As such, IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1520 and is not coupled into the micro-resonators yet may be reflected back to the micro-resonators by second reflector 1530 and/or first reflector 1522, and may be at least partially coupled into the micro-resonators to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into the micro-resonators and the efficiency of visible light source 1502. Thus, each visible light source 1502 may emit visible light in different colors at the same time, where the intensity of the emitted visible light in different colors may be controlled by the drive voltage or current from drive circuit 1510. In the example shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B, the respective intensity of the visible light in each color emitted by a same visible light source may not be individually controllable. Thus, the array of visible light sources 1500 may be used as light sources in BLU display, but may not be used as display pixels for an active display panel. The micro-resonators, the coupling structures, and second reflector 1530 in visible light source 1502 may be formed before or after bonding VCSEL 1520 to drive circuit 1510.

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate an example of an array of visible light sources 1600 according to certain embodiments, where each visible light source 1602 is configured to emit visible light in multiple colors and the respective intensity of the visible light in each color is individually controllable. Compared with the array of visible light sources 1500, the array of visible light sources 1600 may not only have individual control over each visible light source 1602, but also have individual control over the micro-resonators in a same visible light source 1602 such that the respective intensity of the emitted visible light in each color may be individually tunable.

As illustrated in FIG. 16A, each visible light source 1602 in the array of visible light sources 1600 includes multiple micro-resonators in a vertical cavity formed by a first reflector 1622 and a second reflector 1630, where the multiple micro-resonators are pumped by a same IR VCSEL 1620 in the vertical cavity to generate visible light of different colors. First reflector 1622 and second reflector 1630 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. In some embodiments, first reflector 1622 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for visible light. Second reflector 1630 may be anti-reflective for visible light. The visible light of different colors generated in the micro-resonators is vertically coupled out of the micro-resonators by respective coupling structures, and may be transmitted out of the vertical cavity through second reflector 1630.

Visible light source 1602 may include a drive circuit 1610 formed on a CMOS backplane, where the CMOS backplane may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a wafer including VCSELs 1620 fabricated thereon. The multiple micro-resonators and second reflector 1630 may be formed before or after bonding the wafer including VCSELs 1620 to the CMOS backplane. VCSEL 1620 may include a first electrode 1640 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1642, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1640 and second electrode 1642. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1622, an active region 1624 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 16A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped. First reflector 1622 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1624 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1620 may include a partial reflector 1626 for IR light, where partial reflector 1626 may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1624 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1620 with first reflector 1622. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1626 and first reflector 1622 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light emitted by IR VCSELs 1620 and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1620 may include a polarizer 1628. Polarizer 1628 may be used to control the polarization mode of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into the micro-resonator by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620.

In the illustrated example, each visible light source 1602 may include a first micro-resonator 1650, a second micro-resonator 1660, and a third micro-resonator 1670 for generating visible light of different colors using IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 as pump light in DFWM processes. First micro-resonator 1650, second micro-resonator 1660, and third micro-resonator 1670 may have different respective designs and thus may generate visible light of different colors using the same pump light. The different respective designs may include different combinations of, for example, loop shape (e.g., ring, oval, spiral, racetrack, etc.), dimension, material (and thus refractive index), and the like. For example, the shape, dimension, and material of third micro-resonator 1670 may be selected such that red light may be generated in third micro-resonator 1670 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1672 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the red light generated in third micro-resonator 1670 out of third micro-resonator 1670. Similarly, the shape, dimension, and material of second micro-resonator 1660 may be selected such that green light may be generated in second micro-resonator 1660 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1662 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the green light generated in second micro-resonator 1660 out of second micro-resonator 1660. The shape, dimension, and material of first micro-resonator 1650 may be selected such that blue light may be generated in first micro-resonator 1650 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1652 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the blue light generated in first micro-resonator 1650 out of first micro-resonator 1650. First micro-resonator 1650, second micro-resonator 1660, and third micro-resonator 1670 may be arranged vertically in any suitable order. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1602 may include two or more different micro-resonators configured to generate visible light in two or more different colors. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1602 may include multiple micro-resonators, where at least two micro-resonators of the multiple micro-resonators may be configured to generate visible light of the same color.

The visible light coupled out of first micro-resonator 1650, second micro-resonator 1660, and third micro-resonator 1670 may be coupled out of visible light source 1602 through second reflector 1630 with little or no loss since second reflector 1630 may be anti-reflective for visible light as described above. As first reflector 1622, second reflector 1630 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1630 for IR light, while visible light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may destructively interfere to reduce the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1630 for visible light. As such, IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1620 and is not coupled into the micro-resonators yet may be reflected back to the micro-resonators by second reflector 1630 and/or first reflector 1622, and may be at least partially coupled into the micro-resonators to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into the micro-resonators and the efficiency of visible light source 1602. The micro-resonators, the coupling structures, and second reflector 1630 in visible light source 1602 may be formed before or after bonding VCSEL 1620 to drive circuit 1610.

Visible light source 1602 may include additional electrodes for tuning the respective intensity of the visible light of each color generated by and coupled out of the corresponding micro-resonator. For example, electrodes 1690 may be used to modulate the intensity of blue light coupled out of first micro-resonator 1650, electrodes 1692 may be used to modulate the intensity of green light coupled out of second micro-resonator 1660, and electrodes 1694 may be used to modulate the intensity of red light coupled out of third micro-resonator 1670. Electrodes 1690 may be used to tune at least one of first micro-resonator 1650, the coupling structure for coupling the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1620 into first micro-resonator 1650, or coupling structure 1652 for coupling blue light generated in first micro-resonator 1650 to modulate the intensity of the blue light emitted from visible light source 1602. For example, electrodes 1690 may be used to apply a voltage on an electro-optic material or to supply a current signal to a thermo-optic device to change the refractive index of first micro-resonator 1650 or the coupling structure, thereby changing the resonant condition of first micro-resonator 1650 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for first micro-resonator 1650 and thus the intensity of the emitted blue light. Similarly, electrodes 1692 may be used to change the resonant condition of second micro-resonator 1660 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for second micro-resonator 1660 and thus the intensity of the emitted green light. Electrodes 1694 may be used to change the resonant condition of third micro-resonator 1670 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for third micro-resonator 1670 and thus the intensity of the emitted red light. In this way, the intensities of the red, green, and blue light emitted by visible light source 1602 may be independently tuned to desired values to represent a color pixel unit for an active display panel as shown in FIG. 16B, where the pitch of visible light sources 1602 may be less than about 50 μm, less than about 30 μm, less than about 20 μm, or less than about 10 μm.

FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrate an example of a visible light source 1700 that is tunable to emit visible light of different colors according to certain embodiments. Visible light source 1700 may be an example of a visible light source in an array of visible light sources. FIG. 17A shows a cross-sectional view of visible light source 1700 and FIG. 17B illustrates a top view of visible light source 1700. Visible light source 1700 includes a micro-resonator that is in a tunable vertical cavity and is directly pumped by a tunable infrared light VCSEL in the tunable vertical cavity to generate visible light of different colors. The visible light generated in the micro-resonator is vertically coupled out of the vertical cavity. Compared with visible light source 1502 or 1602, visible light source 1700 may include a single micro-resonator that may generate light of different colors at different times.

In the illustrated example, visible light source 1700 includes a micro-resonator 1740 in a tunable vertical cavity formed by a first reflector 1722 and a second reflector 1750, where second reflector 1750 may be formed on a micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) device 1770 and thus is movable by MEMS device 1770. In some embodiments, other micro-actuators or nano-actuators, such as a micro-motor, a piezoelectric actuator, a ferroelectric actuator, a magnetic actuator, an ultrasonic actuator, or the like, may be used to move second reflector 1750. First reflector 1722 and second reflector 1750 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., 80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. In some embodiments, first reflector 1722 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., 80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for visible light. Second reflector 1750 may be anti-reflective for visible light. Micro-resonator 1740 may be pumped by an IR-emitting VCSEL 1720 in the vertical cavity to generate visible light. The visible light generated in micro-resonator 1740 may be vertically coupled out of micro-resonator 1740 by a coupling structure 1742, and may be transmitted out of the vertical cavity through second reflector 1750.

Visible light source 1700 may include a drive circuit 1710 formed on a CMOS backplane, where the CMOS backplane may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a wafer including VCSELs 1720 fabricated thereon. Micro-resonator 1740 and second reflector 1750 may be formed before or after bonding the wafer including VCSELs 1720 to the CMOS backplane. VCSEL 1720 may include a first electrode 1730 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1732, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1730 and second electrode 1732. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1722, an active region 1724 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 17A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped. First reflector 1722 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1724 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. VCSEL 1720 may optionally include a partial reflector 1726 for IR light, where partial reflector 1726 may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1724 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1720 with first reflector 1722. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1726 and first reflector 1722 may help to select the output wavelength range of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1720 and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1720 may include a polarizer 1728. Polarizer 1728 may be used to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1720 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into the micro-resonator by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1720.

As first reflector 1722, second reflector 1750 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1750 for IR light, while visible light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may destructively interfere to reduce the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1750 for visible light. As such, IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1720 and is not coupled into micro-resonator 1740 yet may be reflected back to micro-resonator 1740 by second reflector 1750 and/or first reflector 1722, such that the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1720 may oscillate within the vertical cavity formed by first reflector 1722 and second reflector 1750 and may be coupled into micro-resonator 1740 at a higher coupling efficiency to improve the efficiency of visible light source 1700.

The wavelength of the IR light resonant in the vertical cavity may be determined by the optical path length of the vertical cavity. Thus, when second reflector 1750 is moved by MEMS device 1770 and thus the optical path length of the vertical cavity is changed, the wavelength of the IR light that resonates in the vertical cavity may be changed. The IR light may be coupled into micro-resonator 1740 directly or through a coupling structure (e.g., a grating or nano-resonator). The shape, dimension, and material of micro-resonator 1740 may be selected such that, when the wavelength of the pump light is changed by tuning the optical path length of the vertical cavity using MEMS device 1770, visible light of different colors may be generated in micro-resonator 1740 through OPO (e.g., DFWM) processes. Coupling structure 1742 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the visible light generated in micro-resonator 1740 out of micro-resonator 1740. The visible light coupled out of micro-resonator 1740 may be coupled out of visible light source 1700 through second reflector 1750 with little or no loss since second reflector 1750 may be anti-reflective for visible light as described above.

FIGS. 17C and 17D illustrate an example of generating visible light of different colors by tuning visible light source 1700. FIG. 7C shows that the pump light emitted by VCSEL 1720 and oscillating within the vertical cavity formed by first reflector 1722 and second reflector 1750 may be continuously tunable by tuning the location of second reflector 1750 using MEMS device 1770 or another actuator to tune the optical path length and thus the resonant wavelength of the vertical cavity. In the illustrated example, MEMS device 1770 may be driven by a control signal to move second reflector 1750 such that the wavelength of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1720 and oscillating within the vertical cavity may be linearly changed in time as shown by a curve 1780 in FIG. 7C. When the wavelength of the IR pump light is tuned to a first value, a resonant condition of micro-resonator 1740 may be met and the OPO process may occur to generate signal light 1790 at a first visible wavelength (e.g., red light). When the wavelength of the IR pump light is tuned to a second value, a resonant condition (for a different mode number m) of micro-resonator 1740 may again be met and the OPO process may occur to generate signal light 1792 at a second visible wavelength (e.g., green light). When the wavelength of the IR pump light is tuned to a third value, a resonant condition (for a different mode number m) of micro-resonator 1740 may again be met and the OPO process may occur to generate signal light 1794 at a third visible wavelength (e.g., blue light). In this way, visible light in many different colors may be generated by visible light source 1700.

The control signal may be a periodical signal or may be non-periodic. In some embodiments, the control signal may have a more complex waveform determined by the pixel data of the image to be displayed. For example, the control signal may have multiple different step levels corresponding to different colors, where the duration of each step level for a color pixel in an image frame to be displayed may be determined based on the desired intensity of the corresponding color (e.g., the R, G, B values) for the color pixel of the image frame, such that the temporal combination of the visible light in the different colors emitted during different time periods of the image frame may be perceived by a viewer's eye as a visible light having a single color in the Rec. 2020 color gamut or a larger color gamut. In this way, each visible light source 1700 may be individually controlled to emit light of a desired color at a desired intensity in each image frame. Thus, an array of visible light sources 1700 may be used an active display panel.

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate an example of an array of visible light sources 1800 according to certain embodiments, where each visible light source 1802 in the array of visible light sources 1800 is configured to emit visible light in one or more colors and the respective intensity of the visible light in each color is individually controllable. As illustrated in FIG. 18A, visible light source 1802 may include one or more micro-resonators in a tunable vertical cavity formed by a first reflector 1822 and a second reflector 1830, where second reflector 1830 may be formed on a MEMS device 1832 and thus is movable by MEMS device 1832. First reflector 1822 and second reflector 1830 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for IR light. In some embodiments, first reflector 1822 may have a high reflectivity (e.g., >80%, >85%, >90%, >95%, >99%, or higher) for visible light. Second reflector 1830 may be anti-reflective for visible light. The one or more micro-resonators may be directly pumped by an infrared light VCSEL 1820 in the tunable vertical cavity to generate visible light of different colors. The visible light generated in the one or more micro-resonators may be vertically coupled out of the vertical cavity.

Visible light source 1802 may include a drive circuit 1810 formed on a CMOS backplane, where the CMOS backplane may be bonded directly or indirectly (e.g., through an interposer or a thin-film transistor layer) to a wafer including VCSELs 1820 fabricated thereon. The multiple micro-resonators and second reflector 1830 may be formed before or after bonding the wafer including VCSELs 1820 to the CMOS backplane. VCSEL 1820 may include a first electrode 1840 (e.g., anode or cathode), a second electrode 1842, and a semiconductor structure (e.g., epitaxial layers) formed between first electrode 1840 and second electrode 1842. The semiconductor structure may include, for example, first reflector 1822, an active region 1824 that may emit IR light, and other semiconductor layers (not labeled in FIG. 18A), such as cladding layers or carrier injection layers that may be p-doped or n-doped. First reflector 1822 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR reflector formed by multiple pairs of dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers (doped or undoped) of different refractive indices and thicknesses, such as GaAs and AlAs (or AlGaAs) layers, oxide layers (e.g., silicon oxide and another oxide layer), or the like. Active region 1824 may include, for example, InGaAs quantum well layers and GaAs barrier layers, InAlGaAs quantum well layers and AlGaAs barrier layers, or the like. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1820 may include a partial reflector 1826 for IR light, where partial reflector 1826 may partially reflect and partially transmit IR light emitted in active region 1824 to form a resonant cavity for VCSEL 1820 with first reflector 1822. The resonant cavity formed by partial reflector 1826 and first reflector 1822 may help to narrow and select the output wavelength range of the IR light emitted by IR VCSELs 1820 and improve the gain and the intensity of the emitted IR light. In some embodiments, VCSEL 1820 may include a polarizer 1828. Polarizer 1828 may be used to control the polarization mode of the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 and improve the coupling efficiency of the IR light into the micro-resonator by, for example, a grating coupler or nano-resonators (e.g., meta-structures), which may be polarization dependent. In some embodiments, other polarization components, such as a waveplate, a spatially-variant polarizer, or a spatially-variant waveplate, may be used instead to control the polarization state of IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820.

In the illustrated example, each visible light source 1802 may include a first micro-resonator 1850, a second micro-resonator 1860, and a third micro-resonator 1870 for generating visible light of different colors using IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 as pump light in DFWM processes. First micro-resonator 1850, second micro-resonator 1860, and third micro-resonator 1870 may have different respective designs and thus may generate visible light of different colors using the same pump light. The different respective designs may include different combinations of, for example, loop shape (e.g., ring, oval, spiral, racetrack, etc.), dimension, material (and thus refractive index), and the like. For example, the shape, dimension, and material of third micro-resonator 1870 may be selected such that red light may be generated in third micro-resonator 1870 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1872 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the red light generated in third micro-resonator 1870 out of third micro-resonator 1870. Similarly, the shape, dimension, and material of second micro-resonator 1860 may be selected such that green light may be generated in second micro-resonator 1860 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1862 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the green light generated in second micro-resonator 1860 out of second micro-resonator 1860. The shape, dimension, and material of first micro-resonator 1850 may be selected such that blue light may be generated in first micro-resonator 1850 by DFWM using the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 as the pump light. A coupling structure 1852 (e.g., a grating or nano-resonators) may be configured to vertically couple the blue light generated in first micro-resonator 1850 out of first micro-resonator 1850. First micro-resonator 1850, second micro-resonator 1860, and third micro-resonator 1870 may be arranged vertically in any suitable order. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1802 may include two or more different micro-resonators configured to generate visible light in two or more different colors. In some embodiments, each visible light source 1802 may include multiple micro-resonators, where at least two micro-resonators of the multiple micro-resonators may be configured to generate visible light of the same color.

The visible light coupled out of first micro-resonator 1850, second micro-resonator 1860, and third micro-resonator 1870 may be coupled out of visible light source 1802 through second reflector 1830 with little or no loss since second reflector 1830 may be anti-reflective for visible light as described above. As first reflector 1822, second reflector 1830 may include, for example, an HCG, or a DBR structure formed by multiple dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers having alternating refractive indices. The thicknesses and refractive indices of the dielectric, semiconductor, or metallic material layers in the DBR structure may be selected such that IR light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may constructively interfere to increase the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1830 for IR light, while visible light reflected at adjacent interfaces between different materials may destructively interfere to reduce the overall reflectivity of second reflector 1830 for visible light. As such, IR light that is emitted by VCSEL 1820 and is not coupled into the micro-resonators yet may be reflected back to the micro-resonators by second reflector 1830 and/or first reflector 1822, and may be at least partially coupled into the micro-resonators to improve the efficiency of coupling the IR pump light into the micro-resonators and the efficiency of visible light source 1802. The micro-resonators, the coupling structures, and second reflector 1830 in visible light source 1802 may be formed before or after bonding VCSEL 1820 to drive circuit 1810.

As illustrated in FIG. 18A, second reflector 1830 may be formed on MEMS device 1832 and thus may be movable by MEMS device 1832. In some embodiments, other micro-actuators or nano-actuators, such as a micro-motor, a piezoelectric actuator, a ferroelectric actuator, a magnetic actuator, an ultrasonic actuator, or the like, may be used to move second reflector 1830. The wavelength of the IR light resonant in the vertical cavity may be determined by the optical path length of the vertical cavity. Thus, when second reflector 1830 is moved by MEMS device 1832 and thus the optical path length of the vertical cavity is changed, the wavelength of the IR light that resonates in the vertical cavity may be changed. When the wavelength of the pump light is changed by tuning the optical path length of the vertical cavity using MEMS device 1832, the wavelengths of visible light of different colors generated in micro-resonators 1850, 1860, and 1870 through OPO (e.g., DFWM) processes may change as well.

In the illustrated example, visible light source 1802 may include additional electrodes for tuning the respective intensity of the visible light of each color generated by and coupled out of the corresponding micro-resonator. For example, electrodes 1890 may be used to modulate the intensity of blue light coupled out of first micro-resonator 1850, electrodes 1892 may be used to modulate the intensity of green light coupled out of second micro-resonator 1860, and electrodes 1894 may be used to modulate the intensity of red light coupled out of third micro-resonator 1870. Electrodes 1890 may be used to tune at least one of first micro-resonator 1850, the coupling structure for coupling the IR light emitted by VCSEL 1820 into first micro-resonator 1850, or coupling structure 1852 for coupling blue light generated in first micro-resonator 1850 to modulate the intensity of the blue light emitted from visible light source 1802. For example, electrodes 1890 may be used to apply a voltage on an electro-optic material or to supply a current signal to a thermo-optic device to change the refractive index of first micro-resonator 1850 or the coupling structure, thereby changing the resonant condition of first micro-resonator 1850 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for first micro-resonator 1850 and thus the intensity of the emitted blue light. Similarly, electrodes 1892 may be used to change the resonant condition of second micro-resonator 1860 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for second micro-resonator 1860 and thus the intensity of the emitted green light. Electrodes 1894 may be used to change the resonant condition of third micro-resonator 1870 or the coupling efficiency of the coupling structure for third micro-resonator 1870 and thus the intensity of the emitted red light. In this way, the intensities of the red, green, and blue light emitted by visible light source 1802 may be independently tuned to desired values to represent a color pixel unit for an active display panel as shown in FIG. 18B, where the pitch of visible light sources 1802 may be less than about 50 μm, less than about 30 μm, less than about 20 μm, or less than about 10 μm.

The visible light source described in FIGS. 15A-17B may use one VCSEL in a vertical cavity to generate light of multiple colors, such as the three primary colors and other colors consisting combinations of the three primary colors. The spatial multiplexed (overlapping) visible light of different colors generated by the spatially overlapping micro-resonators in visible light sources 1502 and 1602 or the temporal combination of light of different colors generated by a single micro-resonator in visible light sources 1700 during different time periods may be perceived by a viewer's eye as a single color in a color gamut. Therefore, an array of visible light source including visible light sources described in FIGS. 15A-17B can have a smaller pixel size and a smaller pixel pitch than visible light sources described in FIGS. 14A-14B where a color pixel may be achieved by a spatial combination of three visible light sources of different primary colors.

Embodiments disclosed herein may be used to implement components of an artificial reality system or may be implemented in conjunction with an artificial reality system. Artificial reality is a form of reality that has been adjusted in some manner before presentation to a user, which may include, for example, a virtual reality, an augmented reality, a mixed reality, a hybrid reality, or some combination and/or derivatives thereof. Artificial reality content may include completely generated content or generated content combined with captured (e.g., real-world) content. The artificial reality content may include video, audio, haptic feedback, or some combination thereof, and any of which may be presented in a single channel or in multiple channels (such as stereo video that produces a three-dimensional effect to the viewer). Additionally, in some embodiments, artificial reality may also be associated with applications, products, accessories, services, or some combination thereof, that are used to, for example, create content in an artificial reality and/or are otherwise used in (e.g., perform activities in) an artificial reality. The artificial reality system that provides the artificial reality content may be implemented on various platforms, including an HMD connected to a host computer system, a standalone HMD, a mobile device or computing system, or any other hardware platform capable of providing artificial reality content to one or more viewers.

FIG. 19 is a simplified block diagram of an example electronic system 1900 of an example near-eye display (e.g., HMD device) for implementing some of the examples disclosed herein. Electronic system 1900 may be used as the electronic system of an HMD device or other near-eye displays described above. In this example, electronic system 1900 may include one or more processor(s) 1910 and a memory 1920. Processor(s) 1910 may be configured to execute instructions for performing operations at a number of components, and can be, for example, a general-purpose processor or microprocessor suitable for implementation within a portable electronic device. Processor(s) 1910 may be communicatively coupled with a plurality of components within electronic system 1900. To realize this communicative coupling, processor(s) 1910 may communicate with the other illustrated components across a bus 1940. Bus 1940 may be any subsystem adapted to transfer data within electronic system 1900. Bus 1940 may include a plurality of computer buses and additional circuitry to transfer data.

Memory 1920 may be coupled to processor(s) 1910. In some embodiments, memory 1920 may offer both short-term and long-term storage and may be divided into several units. Memory 1920 may be volatile, such as static random access memory (SRAM) and/or dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or non-volatile, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and the like. Furthermore, memory 1920 may include removable storage devices, such as secure digital (SD) cards. Memory 1920 may provide storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for electronic system 1900. In some embodiments, memory 1920 may be distributed into different hardware modules. A set of instructions and/or code might be stored on memory 1920. The instructions might take the form of executable code that may be executable by electronic system 1900, and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on electronic system 1900 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities, etc.), may take the form of executable code.

In some embodiments, memory 1920 may store a plurality of application modules 1922 through 1924, which may include any number of applications. Examples of applications may include gaming applications, conferencing applications, video playback applications, or other suitable applications. The applications may include a depth sensing function or eye tracking function. Application modules 1922-1924 may include particular instructions to be executed by processor(s) 1910. In some embodiments, certain applications or parts of application modules 1922-1924 may be executable by other hardware modules 1980. In certain embodiments, memory 1920 may additionally include secure memory, which may include additional security controls to prevent copying or other unauthorized access to secure information.

In some embodiments, memory 1920 may include an operating system 1925 loaded therein. Operating system 1925 may be operable to initiate the execution of the instructions provided by application modules 1922-1924 and/or manage other hardware modules 1980 as well as interfaces with a wireless communication subsystem 1930 which may include one or more wireless transceivers. Operating system 1925 may be adapted to perform other operations across the components of electronic system 1900 including threading, resource management, data storage control and other similar functionality.

Wireless communication subsystem 1930 may include, for example, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth® device, an IEEE 802.11 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMax device, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or similar communication interfaces. Electronic system 1900 may include one or more antennas 1934 for wireless communication as part of wireless communication subsystem 1930 or as a separate component coupled to any portion of the system. Depending on desired functionality, wireless communication subsystem 1930 may include separate transceivers to communicate with base transceiver stations and other wireless devices and access points, which may include communicating with different data networks and/or network types, such as wireless wide-area networks (WWANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), or wireless personal area networks (WPANs). A WWAN may be, for example, a WiMax (IEEE 802.16) network. A WLAN may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11x network. A WPAN may be, for example, a Bluetooth network, an IEEE 802.15x, or some other types of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and/or WPAN. Wireless communications subsystem 1930 may permit data to be exchanged with a network, other computer systems, and/or any other devices described herein. Wireless communication subsystem 1930 may include a means for transmitting or receiving data, such as identifiers of HMD devices, position data, a geographic map, a heat map, photos, or videos, using antenna(s) 1934 and wireless link(s) 1932. Wireless communication subsystem 1930, processor(s) 1910, and memory 1920 may together comprise at least a part of one or more of a means for performing some functions disclosed herein.

Embodiments of electronic system 1900 may also include one or more sensors 1990. Sensor(s) 1990 may include, for example, an image sensor, an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a proximity sensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, an inertial sensor (e.g., a module that combines an accelerometer and a gyroscope), an ambient light sensor, or any other similar module operable to provide sensory output and/or receive sensory input, such as a depth sensor or a position sensor. For example, in some implementations, sensor(s) 1990 may include one or more IMUs and/or one or more position sensors. An IMU may generate calibration data indicating an estimated position of the HMD device relative to an initial position of the HMD device, based on measurement signals received from one or more of the position sensors. A position sensor may generate one or more measurement signals in response to motion of the HMD device. Examples of the position sensors may include, but are not limited to, one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, one or more magnetometers, another suitable type of sensor that detects motion, a type of sensor used for error correction of the IMU, or any combination thereof. The position sensors may be located external to the IMU, internal to the IMU, or any combination thereof. At least some sensors may use a structured light pattern for sensing.

Electronic system 1900 may include a display module 1960. Display module 1960 may be a near-eye display, and may graphically present information, such as images, videos, and various instructions, from electronic system 1900 to a user. Such information may be derived from one or more application modules 1922-1924, virtual reality engine 1926, one or more other hardware modules 1980, a combination thereof, or any other suitable means for resolving graphical content for the user (e.g., by operating system 1925). Display module 1960 may use LCD technology, LED technology (including, for example, OLED, ILED, μ-LED, AMOLED, TOLED, etc.), light-emitting polymer display (LPD) technology, or some other display technology.

Electronic system 1900 may include a user input/output module 1970. User input/output module 1970 may allow a user to send action requests to electronic system 1900. An action request may be a request to perform a particular action. For example, an action request may be to start or end an application or to perform a particular action within the application. User input/output module 1970 may include one or more input devices. Example input devices may include a touchscreen, a touch pad, microphone(s), button(s), dial(s), switch(es), a keyboard, a mouse, a game controller, or any other suitable device for receiving action requests and communicating the received action requests to electronic system 1900. In some embodiments, user input/output module 1970 may provide haptic feedback to the user in accordance with instructions received from electronic system 1900. For example, the haptic feedback may be provided when an action request is received or has been performed.

Electronic system 1900 may include a camera 1950 that may be used to take photos or videos of a user, for example, for tracking the user's eye position. Camera 1950 may also be used to take photos or videos of the environment, for example, for VR, AR, or MR applications. Camera 1950 may include, for example, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor with a few millions or tens of millions of pixels. In some implementations, camera 1950 may include two or more cameras that may be used to capture 3-D images.

In some embodiments, electronic system 1900 may include a plurality of other hardware modules 1980. Each of other hardware modules 1980 may be a physical module within electronic system 1900. While each of other hardware modules 1980 may be permanently configured as a structure, some of other hardware modules 1980 may be temporarily configured to perform specific functions or temporarily activated. Examples of other hardware modules 1980 may include, for example, an audio output and/or input module (e.g., a microphone or speaker), a near field communication (NFC) module, a rechargeable battery, a battery management system, a wired/wireless battery charging system, etc. In some embodiments, one or more functions of other hardware modules 1980 may be implemented in software.

In some embodiments, memory 1920 of electronic system 1900 may also store a virtual reality engine 1926. Virtual reality engine 1926 may execute applications within electronic system 1900 and receive position information, acceleration information, velocity information, predicted future positions, or any combination thereof of the HMD device from the various sensors. In some embodiments, the information received by virtual reality engine 1926 may be used for producing a signal (e.g., display instructions) to display module 1960. For example, if the received information indicates that the user has looked to the left, virtual reality engine 1926 may generate content for the HMD device that mirrors the user's movement in a virtual environment. Additionally, virtual reality engine 1926 may perform an action within an application in response to an action request received from user input/output module 1970 and provide feedback to the user. The provided feedback may be visual, audible, or haptic feedback. In some implementations, processor(s) 1910 may include one or more GPUs that may execute virtual reality engine 1926.

In various implementations, the above-described hardware and modules may be implemented on a single device or on multiple devices that can communicate with one another using wired or wireless connections. For example, in some implementations, some components or modules, such as GPUs, virtual reality engine 1926, and applications (e.g., tracking application), may be implemented on a console separate from the head-mounted display device. In some implementations, one console may be connected to or support more than one HMD.

In alternative configurations, different and/or additional components may be included in electronic system 1900. Similarly, functionality of one or more of the components can be distributed among the components in a manner different from the manner described above. For example, in some embodiments, electronic system 1900 may be modified to include other system environments, such as an AR system environment and/or an MR environment.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Also, technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples that do not limit the scope of the disclosure to those specific examples.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, systems, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. This description provides example embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention. Rather, the preceding description of the embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing various embodiments. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, customized or special-purpose hardware might also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

With reference to the appended figures, components that can include memory can include non-transitory machine-readable media. The term “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium” may refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In embodiments provided hereinabove, various machine-readable media might be involved in providing instructions/code to processing units and/or other device(s) for execution. Additionally or alternatively, the machine-readable media might be used to store and/or carry such instructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and/or optical media such as compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code. A computer program product may include code and/or machine-executable instructions that may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, an application (App), a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements.

Terms, “and” and “or” as used herein, may include a variety of meanings that are also expected to depend at least in part upon the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, here used in the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular or may be used to describe some combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example and claimed subject matter is not limited to this example. Furthermore, the term “at least one of” if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, can be interpreted to mean A, B, C, or any combination of A, B, and/or C, such as AB, AC, BC, AA, ABC, AAB, AABBCCC, or the like.

Further, while certain embodiments have been described using a particular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognized that other combinations of hardware and software are also possible. Certain embodiments may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, or using combinations thereof. In one example, software may be implemented with a computer program product containing computer program code or instructions executable by one or more processors for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described in this disclosure, where the computer program may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium. The various processes described herein can be implemented on the same processor or different processors in any combination.

Where devices, systems, components or modules are described as being configured to perform certain operations or functions, such configuration can be accomplished, for example, by designing electronic circuits to perform the operation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (such as microprocessors) to perform the operation such as by executing computer instructions or code, or processors or cores programmed to execute code or instructions stored on a non-transitory memory medium, or any combination thereof. Processes can communicate using a variety of techniques, including, but not limited to, conventional techniques for inter-process communications, and different pairs of processes may use different techniques, or the same pair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specific embodiments have been described, these are not intended to be limiting. Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope of the following claims