Patent ID: 7388893

Claim:
An optical system comprising: a first optical fiber transmission line; a multiplexer for optically coupling the first optical fiber transmission line to a second plurality of optical fiber transmission lines; and a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser device array, wherein a plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices, each having a layered structure comprising at least an active layer and a current confinement layer, are provided on one substrate, each of the plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices has a diameter different than those of the other vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices and comprises the current confinement layer having a current confinement portion with an area that is different than those of the current confinement portions of the other vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices, wherein each of the plurality of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices emits laser light towards a respective one of the second plurality of optical fiber transmission lines, and the differences in the lasing wavelength between adjacent vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices are the same.