| CPC H01S 5/18361 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4815 (2013.01); G01S 17/08 (2013.01); H01S 5/18305 (2013.01); H01S 5/3416 (2013.01); H01S 5/423 (2013.01)] | 19 Claims |

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1. A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) comprising:
a substrate;
an epitaxial VCSEL structure on the substrate, wherein the epitaxial VCSEL structure includes:
a resonant cavity, including a gain region, disposed between a bottom mirror and a partially reflecting middle mirror, the partially reflecting middle mirror being further from the substrate than the bottom mirror; and
an additional epitaxial layer disposed between the partially reflecting middle mirror and a top mirror, the top mirror being further from the substrate than the partially reflecting middle mirror, and the additional epitaxial layer having a thickness in a range of 5 μm-100 μm,
wherein the VCSEL is operable to produce a light beam that is emitted from the VCSEL, the light beam having a full-width half-maximum beam divergence of no more than 10 degrees.
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