Milestone-Proposal talk:Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, 1977

Advocates’ Checklist

1. Is the proposal for an achievement rather than for a person? If the citation includes a person's name, have the proposers provided the required justification for inclusion of the person's name?
2. Was the proposed achievement a significant advance rather than an incremental improvement to an existing technology?
3. Were there prior or contemporary achievements of a similar nature? If so, have they been properly considered in the background information and in the citation?
4. Has the achievement truly led to a functioning, useful, or marketable technology?
5. Is the proposal adequately supported by significant references (minimum of five) such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books? At least one of the references should be from a peer-reviewed scholarly book or journal article. The full text of the material, not just the references, shall be present. If the supporting texts are copyright-encumbered and cannot be posted on the ETHW for intellectual property reasons, the proposers shall email a copy to the History Center so that it can be forwarded to the Advocate. If the Advocate does not consider the supporting references sufficient, the Advocate may ask the proposer(s) for additional ones.
6. Are the scholarly references sufficiently recent?
7. Does the proposed citation explain why the achievement was successful and impactful?
8. Does the proposed citation include important technical aspects of the achievement?
9. Is the proposed citation readable and understandable by the general public?
10. Will the citation be read correctly in the future by only using past tense? Does the citation wording avoid statements that read accurately only at the time that the proposal is written?
11. Does the proposed plaque site fulfill the requirements?
12. Is the proposal quality comparable to that of IEEE publications?
13. Are any scientific and technical units correct (e.g., km, mm, hertz, etc.)? Are acronyms correct and properly upper-cased or lower-cased? Are the letters in any acronym explained in the title or the citation?
14. Are date formats correct as specified in Section 6 of Milestones Program Guidelines? Helpful Hints on Citations, plaque locations
15. Do the year(s) appearing in the citation fall within the range of the year(s) included at the end of the title?
16. Note that it is the Advocate's responsibility to confirm that the independent reviewers have no conflict of interest (e.g., that they do not work for a company or a team involved in the achievement being proposed, that they have not published with the proposer(s), and have not worked on a project related to the funding of the achievement). An example of a way to check for this would be to search reviewers' publications on IEEE Xplore.

Reviewers’ Checklist

1. Is suggested wording of the Plaque Citation accurate?
2. Is evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Plaque Citation?
3. Does proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement?
4. Were there similar or competing achievements? If so, have the proposers adequately described these and their relationship to the achievement being proposed?
5. Have proposers shown a clear benefit to humanity?

In answering the questions above, the History Committee asks that reviewers apply a similar level of rigor to that used to peer-review an article, or evaluate a research proposal. Some elaboration is desirable. Of course the Committee would welcome any additional observations that you may have regarding this proposal.

Submission and Approval Log

Submitted date: 16 August 2024
Advocate approval date: 5 November 2024
History Committee approval date:
Board of Directors approval date:

Original Citation Title and Text as submitted -- Administrator4 (talk) 19:52, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, 1977-1992

Kenichi Iga of Tokyo Institute of Technology conceived the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) in 1977. The device was specified for single-mode operation, monolithic manufacturability, and frequency tunability. He and his team made breakthroughs with the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room-temperature continuous operation in 1988, and mechanical continuous frequency tuning in 1992. Today, VCSELs are widely used in LANs, datacenters, 3D face-recognition, printers, and LiDARs, all integral to modern life.

Independent review by Prof. Dieter Bimberg -- Juan Carlos (talk) 13:24, 29 September 2024 (UTC)

Answers to 4 questions from Prof. Dr. Dieter Biemberg

1) Is the suggested wording of the Plaque Citation accurate?
yes, I fully agree


2) Is the evidence presented in the proposal of sufficient substance and accuracy to support the Citation?


yes, the proposal shows in very much detail the substance supporting the citation


3) Does the proposed milestone represent a significant technical achievement?


yes, At the time of the first proposal of VCSELs by Ken Iga, edge emitting lasers, EELs, where already making their way and soon where applied e.g. for optical cables connecting continents and enabling our present optical communication systems, e-mails, google search, wikipedia,... . EELs are expensive, cannot be tested on-wafer, have a large volume, cannot be integrated easily on drivers. Iga's proposal of surface emitting lasers opened an alternative road. It was the final step of technological developments after the demonstration of EELs and LEDs, which are also surface emitters, but low power and no stimulated emission.  Iga's idea and research results in the next 2 decades stimulated a Tsunami of developments worldwide and lead to a 5 digit number of follow-up publications and lead to the creation of many new companies. The economic impact of applications of VCSELs in systems is judged today to go beyond 9 digit numbers of $.  Today VCSELs are called the next generation LEDs, with many more applications, than LEDs ever had or are going to have. VCSELs can be easily combined to arrays and find applications in i-phones (face recognition),  bar code scanners,  as well as automobile systems (distance monitoring), to mention just a few different of many present life applications. High end devices present the basis for ultra high bit-rate optical computer interconnects for 100+ Gbit/s in data centers (block chain, AI, movie downloads, whats app,....).  All compound  direct-gap semiconductor materials, like GaAs, InP, GaN,..can be used to grow and manufacture VCSELs and novel applications appear almost on daily basis.  

4) Do you think the name of Kenichi Iga   deserves to be included in the word-count constrained Citation? Yes, definitely, without "his swimming against the stream" imagination we would not have the technologies on which our life is based on --

-- Prof.Dr.Dr.h.c.mult.D. Bimberg

Excecutive Director "Bimberg Chinese-German Center for Green Photonics" Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences bimberg@ciomp.ac.cn Tel. +49 1702454615

Founding Director Center of NanoPhotonics Institut fuer Festkoerperphysik Sekr. EW 5-2 TU Berlin Hardenbergstr. 36, Eugene P. Wigner Building D-10623 Berlin Germany bimberg@physik.tu-berlin.de Tel. +49 1702454615

Review by Dr Dupuis -- Juan Carlos (talk) 14:03, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

File:IEEE History Plaque VCSEL Dupuis 241001.pdf

Dr Connie Chang Review -- Juan Carlos (talk) 14:17, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

File:Cch for Iga IEEE Milestone 2024.pdf

Dr. Kent Chorquette review -- Juan Carlos (talk) 22:49, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

File:VCSEL review Choquette.pdf

revised Citation proposal -- Juan Carlos (talk) 22:50, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

File:VCSEL Revised Citation.pdf

Advocate Report -- Juan Carlos (talk) 22:51, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

File:Advocate report.pdf

The year range of the citation -- Fumio Koyama (talk) 03:51, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Due to health issues, the proposer, Emeritus Professor Kohroh Kobayashi, is unable to fulfill his role, which I will now assume on his behalf. First of all, we extend our sincere gratitude for the advocate’s support. Before completing the submission of the proposal, the proposal’s title (the specified year range) was updated as follows:

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, 1977-1992

Notably, the second achievement (first continuous-wave operation) and the third achievement (wavelength tuning) were accomplished in 1988 and 1992, respectively. Thus, we suggest retaining the original year range of 1977–1992 as proposed.

Small Addition to Citation Requested -- Bberg (talk) 01:50, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

Back on Sept. 17 within an email thread, I had requested that "the" be added before "Tokyo Institute of Technology" for nicer readability. I saw no responnse, but I make that request again here. The current citaiton is 69 words, so there is room for this. I checked, and the "Invention of a Temperature-Insensitive Quartz Oscillation Plate, 1933" Milestone dedicated in 2017 also used "the" before "Tokyo Institute of Technology".

Thank you. Brian Berg, Milestones Subcommittee Chair

Re: Small Addition to Citation Requested -- Juan Carlos (talk) 18:54, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

The proposer’s calls our attention to the range originally proposed, 1977 to 1992, I don’t see any problem with that Title because it is consistent with the wording of the Citation.

Re: the inclusion of the article “the” before the mention of ”Tokyo Institute of Technology”. I really have no definite arguments nether for nor against. Brian Berg is fully right that it apparently sounds better with the article, but the proposer has been adamant that it should not be included because in Japan it is usually mentioned without any article. Perhaps the proposer of the Quartz Oscillator Milestone did not want to discuss further. As always, it’s up to the Committee to break this small tie and take the final decision on the Citation.

Juan Carlos Miguez, Advocate

Re: Re: Small Addition to Citation Requested -- Bberg (talk) 23:49, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

I must agree that "the" is typically not used for this university. Interestingly, I do note that in these two existing Milestones, the first does not use "the" but the second one does use "the":

https://ethw.org/Milestones:Development_of_Ferrite_Materials_and_Their_Applications,_1930-1945
https://ethw.org/Milestones:Invention_of_a_Temperature-Insensitive_Quartz_Oscillation_Plate,_1933

I also comment regarding this proposal as approved in September 2024:

https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:Dynamic_single-mode_semiconductor_laser

Its citation starts with the words "Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech, later Science Tokyo)" since the university changed its name to Science Tokyo in October 2024. As I understand it from having done some work on that proposal, the university may wish to have the wording changed in a similar fashion - but there is really no room to do so and it should not be a necessary step. As such, I withdraw my comment.

Thank you. Brian Berg, Milestones Subcommittee Chair

Re: Re: Re: Small Addition to Citation Requested -- Juan Carlos (talk) 13:56, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

If I can make a Last minute suggestion: change the preposition "of " by "at". this sounds -reads much better w/o any article before Tokyo Institute.

So the first phrase of the Citation would be"The VCSEL was conceived by Kenichi Iga at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977."

Juan Carlos Miguez, Advocate

Latest proposed Citation -- Juan Carlos (talk) 21:28, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

File:VCSEL Latest Revised Citation.pdf

This is a small change of the preposition "of" by "at" in the first phrase of the Citation. As discussed with Brian Berg this is more specific, indicating the place of the invention. and as its sounds well reduces the need of an article before Tokyo, w/o worsening readability.

So we comply with the proposer's will of excluding the article "the" before Tokyo Institute of Technology

Juan Carlos Miguez, Advocate

text of the proposed Citation -- Juan Carlos (talk) 14:11, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, 1977-1992

The Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) was conceived by Kenichi Iga at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977. The device was designed for single-mode operation, easy monolithic manufacturability, and frequency tunability. His team made breakthroughs with the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation in 1988, and mechanical continuous frequency tuning in 1992. VCSELs gained wide usage in everyday applications, including datacenters and optical sensing

Final Citation Proposal -- Juan Carlos (talk) 21:27, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, 1977-1992

The Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) was conceived by Kenichi Iga at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977. The device was designed for single-mode operation, easy monolithic manufacturability, and frequency tunability. His team made breakthroughs with the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation in 1988, and mechanical continuous frequency tuning in 1992. VCSELs gained wide usage in everyday life, including in LANs, datacenters, 3D face-recognition, printers, and LiDARs.

Final Revision of Citation -- Fumio Koyama (talk) 20:38, 22 November 2024 (UTC)

The Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) was conceived by Kenichi Iga at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977. This device was designed for single-mode operation, easy monolithic manufacturability, and frequency tunability. Iga’s team made breakthroughs with the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation in 1988, and mechanical continuous-frequency tuning in 1992. VCSELs gained wide usage in everyday life, including in LANs, datacenters, 3D face recognition, printers, and LiDARs.

Re: Final Revision of Citation -- Dmichelson (talk) 09:06, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

I strongly recommend the following slightly shorter revision:

The Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) was conceived by Kenichi Iga at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977. Iga’s team demonstrated the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation of a VCSEL in 1988, and mechanical continuous-frequency tuning of a VCSEL in 1992. Since then, VCELs have been widely used in Local Area Networks, data centers, 3D facial recognition, printers, and LiDARs.

(64 words)

Addition of sentences in the new section of the proposal -- Fumio Koyama (talk) 21:15, 22 November 2024 (UTC)

Why was the achievement successful and impactful? Kenichi Iga envisioned an innovative semiconductor laser characterized by a short laser cavity perpendicular to the wafer surface. This groundbreaking invention has had profound impacts to optoelectronics, offering several distinctive advantages, such as low threshold currents, single-frequency operation, circular beams, scalability to large-scale 2D arrays, and cost-effective manufacturing. His team successfully achieved three pivotal milestones: stable single-frequency oscillation, monolithic fabrication, and continuous frequency tuning. VCSELs have since become integral to modern life, finding widespread applications in LANs, datacenters, 3D face recognition, laser printers, and LiDAR systems.

Support of Milestone Proposal -- Jbart64 (talk) 18:25, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

I have reviewed the milestone proposal and support it, including the final editing and revisions. Dave Bart

In Defense of the Whole Citation -- Juan Carlos (talk) 12:13, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

With due respect to our estimated colleague David Michelson, in my opinion the second sentence needs to be kept in the Citation. ”easay manufacturability” precises the true significance of the achievement. At the time , semiconductor lasers emitted laterally. That required a complicated and expensive manufacturing process. Iga’s “swimming against the current [nice graphic metaphor written by Prof. Dieter Bimberg, one of the independent reviewers] resulted in a product that could be cheaply made with more or less standard technologies.That opened the door to a wide range of useful applications.

Juan Carlos Miguez, Advocate

Re: In Defense of the Whole Citation -- Jbart64 (talk) 14:12, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Try this (69 words) using active voice in the verbs to trim words and including the ideas of the second sentence:

Kenichi Iga at the Tokyo Institute of Technology conceived the Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) in 1977, demonstrating the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation of a VCSEL in 1988, and mechanical continuous-frequency tuning of a VCSEL in 1992. This device provided single-mode operation and frequency tunability, enabled simplified monolithic manufacturing, and achieved wide usage in Local Area Networks, data centers, 3D facial recognition, printers, and LiDARs.

Re: In Defense of the Whole Citation -- Dmichelson (talk) 14:45, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Milestones focus on the achievement or innovation, not the individual. The name of the person cannot come first.

One has to tell the story in only 60+ words. If the second sentence needs to stay, other elements must be removed.

Re: Re: In Defense of the Whole Citation -- Jbart64 (talk) 16:03, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

You are correct. Try this (70 words):

The Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) was conceived by Kenichi Iga at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1977, demonstrating the first current-driven VCSEL in 1979, room temperature continuous operation of a VCSEL in 1988, and mechanical continuous-frequency tuning of a VCSEL in 1992. This device provided single-mode operation and frequency tunability, enabled simplified monolithic manufacturing, and achieved wide usage in Local Area Networks, data centers, 3D facial recognition, printers, and LiDARs.