4X4 FAN-OUT SPOT GENERATOR USING GAAS BASED VCSELS AND DIFFRACTIVE OPTICAL-ELEMENT

We report the hybrid operation of a computer generated diffractive opt ical element, or kinoform, and a vertical cavity surface emitting lase r, both elements being GaAs based, Using the laser as the optical inpu t source the binary kinoform is shown to produce a focused 4 x 4 fan-o ut spot array, Diffraction efficiencies of approximately 20% and near diffraction limited spots are obtained for single moded VCSEL's. The k inoform is also shown to function successfully for larger, multi-moded , VCSEL's without significant performance drop.