Surface emitting lasers with combined output

Claim 1

A surface emitting semiconductor laser device for emitting an output light signal perpendicular to a major surface thereof, comprising: a substrate having first and second opposing major surfaces; first contact means over said first major surface of said substrate; first and second longitudinally spaced apart and laterally aligned laser regions defining a central region therebetween and said laser regions being disposed on said second major surface of said substrate; an optical medium extending over the central region and the first and second laser regions through which light generated by the first and second laser regions propagates; a capping laver and second contact means overlying the optical medium; a single optical grating surface etched into the second contact means and the capping layer to extend over said central region in optical communication with the optical medium to define said major surface of said laser device wherein the first and second laser regions are disposed on opposing sides longitudinally of the grating surface, said grating surface having grating periods for phase locking and combining the light propagations in the optical medium and generated by said first and second laser regions and for allowing said output light signal to be emitted therethrough perpendicular to said major surface of said laser device; and wherein the first and second laser regions each comprise a plurality of laterally aligned phase-locked lasers disposed on said second major surface of said substrate with corresponding spaced-apart lasers of each of the first and second longitudinal laser regions being longitudinally aligned.