VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING LASER (VCSEL) WITH IMPROVED GAIN-SWITCHING BEHAVIOR

The invention describes a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (100) comprising at least one mesa, wherein the at least one mesa comprises an active region (120), wherein the active region (120) comprises a number of m active layer structures (121, 125) with m ‰¥ 2, wherein the active layer structures (121, 125) are electrically connected to each other by means of a tunnel junction (123) arranged between the active layer structures (121, 125), wherein the at least one mesa further comprises an optical resonator, wherein the optical resonator comprises a first Dielectric Bragg Reflector (130) and a second Dielectric Bragg Reflector (136), wherein the active region (120) is arranged between the first and the second Dielectric Bragg Reflector (130, 136), wherein the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (100) further comprises a first electrical contact (101) and a second electrical contact (105), wherein the first and the second electrical contact (101, 105) are arranged to provide an electrical current to the active region (120), wherein the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (100) further comprises an electrical control contact (103), wherein the electrical control contact (103) is arranged to control gain-switched laser emission of the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (100) by means of at least 1 up to m-1 active layer structures (121, 125) by means of a current between the electrical control contact (103) and the first electrical contact (101) or the second electrical contact (105). The invention further relates to a time-of-flight sensor module (200) comprising such a VCSEL (100). The invention further relates to a method of controlling gain-switching of the VCSEL (100). The invention finally relates to a related computer program product.