High-power and high- quality Gaussian beam in VCSEL via anisotropic modes control

•An anisotropic elliptical oxide aperture VCSEL (AEOA-VCSEL) was prepared to generate high-power as well as high-quality Gaussian-like beam via anisotropic modes control, whose power (8.2 mW) was higher than those in the former reports.•The output beam profile of the AEOA-VCSEL can be flexibly changed from circle to ellipse only by adjusting the injection current, greatly expanding the device’s application.•The AEOA-VCSEL also could optimize and homogenize the adjacent mode spacing, which is important in Mode-division multiplexing (MDM). Gaussian beam in the vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) hasimportantapplicationin 3D sensing and optical communications, due to its concentrate energy at center and long propagation distance. However, its beam quality under high power tends to be serious degradation and become annular hollow distribution, severely limiting the use of VCSEL. Here, the anisotropic elliptical oxide aperture VCSEL (AEOA-VCSEL) was designed to achieve high-power Gaussian beam with high-quality via anisotropic modes control. The saturation output power reached up to 8.2 mW under low injection current, to our best knowledge, which was the highest power generated in single VCSEL device. Moreover, the AEOA-VCSEL can control the output beam profile only by adjusting injection current, and could also homogenize the mode spacing among adjacent high-order modes. The facile preparation process and low cost makes the device present great potential in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), 3D sensing and optical communications.