Numerous optical systems for optical processing and optical memories and other widespread applications such as optical neural networks, optical communications, pattern recognition, laser printing and scanning, and visual displays, have been designed, but require and presently lack high-performance, easily usable addressable arrays of light sources. We propose to fulfill this need by constructing arrays of individually electronically addressable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. Their implementation into such systems will straightforwardly simplify such systems and dramatically improve performance compare to alternative input light sources based on spatial light modulators or fixed-mask inputs. For optical processing systems such as those mentioned above, simplification occurs through elimination of many unnecessary optical components. Higher speed, more versatility and greater tolerance to varying device characteristics are the main forms of improved performance. Optical memories like compact disk or optical type would increase their speeds many-fold by reading, for example, 64 bits at a time rather than only one. VCSEL's are fundamentally much better suited for these applications than the more mature edge-emitting diode laser technology, mainly because they emit circular, low- divergence beams, and they can be fabricated in arbitrary one- or two- dimensional patterns. The utility for such general-purpose arrays (e.g. linear 1x64) is likely to range far beyond what we can presently imagine.
