Patent ID: 9466946
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: H01S

Claim Text:
1. A monolithic semiconductor laser array including a plurality of laser elements formed on the same substrate, wherein said plurality of laser elements are disposed such that waveguides of said laser elements are parallel to one another, each of said plurality of laser elements includes a front-end-surface reflection film covers substantially an entire front end surface serving as a light emitting surface of said waveguide, each of said front-end-surface reflection films has uniform reflectance in said front-end-surface, each of said plurality of laser elements includes a rear-end-surface reflection film on a rear end surface opposite to said front end surface with said waveguide sandwiched between said front end surface and said rear end surface, said respective front-end-surface reflection films of a first subset of at least one of said plurality of laser elements has a first reflectance, and said respective front-end-surface reflection films of a second subset of at least one of said plurality of laser elements has a second reflectance different from said first reflectance, said rear-end-surface reflection films of said plurality of laser elements have the same reflectance, said plurality of laser elements are driven by a single power supply, and respective outputs of said first subset of said plurality laser elements are greater than or equal to respective outputs of said second subset of said plurality of laser elements and, if said respective outputs of said first and second subsets are not equal, said first subset will have a fewer number of said plurality of laser elements than said second subset.