Based on the coordination of reflection, transmission, absorption, scattering, interference, self-mixing interference and other technologies, optical sensors equipped with VCSEL can ensure high efficiency, high reliability and high precision. For example, VCSEL has been widely used in products that use reflection sensor, mirror image or scattering technology to detect the existence of objects or track the movement of objects.
In the sensor, VCSEL can provide higher efficiency and accuracy by:

The characteristics generated in the laser by the combination of self-mixing interference technology and signal reflection can be applied to determine the position, direction and relative velocity. The measurement without contact can be realized through VCSEL to avoid the common wear problems of the mechanical system.

Detection of particles in liquids – speckle detection combined with statistical methods to track the movement of objects

The VCSEL can also be mounted directly on the device’s surface to replace current LED based applications, such as optoelectronic control.The efficiency of VCSEL can be 10 times higher than that of similar encapsulated LED by utilizing the concentrated light and coherent light characteristics of VCSEL. For example, an optical reflection sensor applying VCSEL to detect black spots and empty spots only needs 5 mah power consumption, compared with 55 mah power consumption for LED to achieve the same effect. As a backlight, VCSEL can achieve stronger resolution under lower power consumption, that is, improve the accuracy of identifying target position and speed.

The VCSEL’s efficiency and reliability also allow it to be packaged with an electron and run independently for years in extremely remote places, such as chip-scale atomic clocks for seabed mapping.