DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The Examiner acknowledges amended claim 4 and new claims 13-14.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Previous rejection has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kono (US Patent US-20150236474-A1) in the view of Bensch (US Patent US-7692202-B2), hereinafter Bensch.
Regarding claim 1, Kono teaches a laser device (Fig. 1 laser device 10) comprising:
a first mirror (Fig. 1 high reflective layer “HR”) and a second mirror (Fig. 1 mirror 113) forming a resonator (see [0197]);
a gain medium (Fig. 1 active layer 40) having a light emitting surface (Fig. 1 “light emitting surface”, see annotated figure below) and disposed between the first mirror and the second mirror (Fig. 1 right side of 40 is between “HR” and mirror 113);
an antireflection film located on the light emitting surface of the gain medium (Fig. 1 antireflection film “AR” located on right surface of 40);
an optical element disposed between the gain medium and the second mirror (Fig. 1 lens 11 is between “HR” and 113); and
a diffraction grating disposed between the optical element and the second mirror (Fig. 1 diffraction grating 111 disposed between 11 and 113), wherein:
the gain medium (Fig. 1 active layer 40) is a semiconductor layered body comprising an active layer (see [0189]), and having a gain in at least a first direction (Fig. 1 first direction from left to right where light beam exists from 40, see annotated figure below; [0138]).
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Kono fails to teach having a varying gain distribution in at least a first direction within the light emitting surface; gain medium comprises no waveguide.
However, Bensch teaches varying gain distribution in at least a first direction within the light emitting surface (Fig. 4a-b gain distribution AZ1, AZ2, AZ3 within light emitting surface that corresponds to different wavelengths); gain medium comprises no waveguide (Fig. 4a semiconductor structure does not comprise a waveguide).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Kono varying gain distribution in at least a first direction within the light emitting surface with gain medium comprises no waveguide (e.g. having multiple active layers to generate plurality of wavelength with a waveguide) as taught by Bensch because it would allow to achieve a multi-wavelength diode (from Bensch see abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device according to claim 1, wherein a wavelength at which a gain is maximized in the gain medium varies so that the wavelength becomes shorter from a first end of the gain medium to a second end of the gain medium along the first direction within the light emitting surface (from Bensch Fig. 4a-b AZn becomes shorter corresponding to the top of light emitting surface in comparison to AZ1 at the bottom of the light emitting surface).
Regarding claim 4, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device according to claim 1, wherein: light extracted outward from the resonator comprises a plurality of light rays (from Besch Fig. 4b light extracted comprises a plurality of light rays), and peak wavelengths of the plurality of light rays vary monotonically along the first direction on the light emitting surface of the gain medium (from Bensch AZ1-AZn has a corresponding peak wavelengths vary monotonically from left to right on the light emitting surface).
Regarding claim 5, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device according to claim 4, wherein the peak wavelengths of the plurality of light rays are in a range from 350 nm to 550 nm (from Bensch column 4 lines 45-55).
Regarding claim 8, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device according to claim 1, further comprising a light source configured to emit excitation light toward a back surface of the gain medium (from Hono [0095] states “ a laser light source that can generate a single peaked laser light having a short pulse time width and less subpulse components can be provided”), opposite the light emitting surface, or toward a lateral surface of the gain medium (it is inherent that a light source has to be place in a side of the light emitting surface e.g. opposite or lateral).
Regarding claim 13, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device of claim 1, wherein the first direction is parallel to the light emitting surface (Fig. 1 first direction from left to right is parallel to the light emitting surface, see figure in claim 1).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kono (US Patent US-20150236474-A1) in the view of Bensch (US Patent US-7692202-B2), as per claim 1, in further view of Kuraoka (US Patent US-20170250519-A1) hereinafter Kuraoka.
Regarding claim 3, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device according to claim 1, wherein the active layer (from Kono Fig. 1 active layer 40) comprises a nitride semiconductor (from Kono [0189]);
Kono fails to teach active layer containing indium and/or aluminum, and a content of the indium and/or aluminum in the nitride semiconductor varies in the light emitting surface.
However, Kuraoka teaches the active layer comprises a nitride semiconductor containing indium and/or aluminum (Fig. 2 active layer 4a made of In.sub.yGa.sub.1-yN (0<y<1), see [0050]), and a content of the indium and/or aluminum in the nitride semiconductor varies in the light emitting surface ([0051] states “the wavelength -designed output wavelength- of the light desired to be emitted from the surface-emitting device 10 can be varied by varying the In composition ratio y in the first unit active layer 4a in the production of the surface-emitting device 10”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Kon’s device in the view of Bensch with active layer comprises a nitride semiconductor containing indium and/or aluminum (e.g. active region from Kono in the view of Bensch made of a nitride semiconductor containing indium), and a content of the indium and/or aluminum in the nitride semiconductor varies in the light emitting surface (e.g. having different indium concentration in each active region) as taught by Kuraoka because having nitride semiconductor would allow to emit light in the green color (from Kuraoka [0051] states “light having an emission wavelength of approximately 530 nm can be obtained”) and varying the content of the indium in the nitride semiconductor would control a desired output wavelength (from Kuraoka [0051]).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kono (US Patent US-20150236474-A1) in the view of Bensch (US Patent US-7692202-B2), as per claim 1, in further view of Tayebati (US Patent US-9190807-B2), hereinafter Tayebati.
Regarding claim 13, Kono’s modified device teaches the laser device of claim 1, wherein light extracted from the resonator includes a plurality of light rays having different peak wavelengths (from Bensch Fig. 4b shows plurality of light rays with different peak wavelengths),
Kono’s modified device fails to teach the plurality of light rays being coaxially combined.
However, Tayebati teaches Kono’s plurality of light rays being coaxially combined (Fig. 3b plurality of rays from 150a-i being coaxially combined by lens 154 and diffraction grating 158).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Kon’s device in the view of Bensch having the plurality of light rays being coaxially combined (e.g. having replacing the lens and diffracting grating from Kono by the lens and diffracting grating by Tayebati) because it would allow to increase the power of the laser light.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FERNANDA ADRIANA CAMACHO ALANIS whose telephone number is (703)756-1545. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30am-5:30pm Friday off.
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/FERNANDA ADRIANA CAMACHO ALANIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2828
/MINSUN O HARVEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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