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Topic · Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices

Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices is a research topic within Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Science Explorer counts 88k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the advances in optical interconnect technologies, including the use of semiconductor lasers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), self-mixing interferometry, passively mode-locked lasers, high-speed data communication, optoelectronic integration, photonic crystal devices, terahertz sources, and board-level optical interconnects.

  • Optical Interconnects
  • Semiconductor Lasers
  • Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs)
  • Self-Mixing Interferometry
  • Passively Mode-Locked Lasers
  • High-Speed Data Communication
  • Optoelectronic Integration
  • Photonic Crystal Devices
  • Terahertz Sources
  • Board-Level Optical Interconnects
Research works
88k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices

Which countries lead Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.5k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.5k works
  2. 2 United States 1.1k works
  3. 3 Japan 558 works
  4. 4 Germany 475 works
  5. 5 India 427 works
  6. 6 Russia 320 works
  7. 7 France 289 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 278 works
  9. 9 South Korea 213 works
  10. 10 Taiwan 193 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 39.1%United States: 17.8%Japan: 8.7%Germany: 7.4%6 others listed: 26.9%39%largest
China2,506 · 39.1%United States1,142 · 17.8%Japan558 · 8.7%Germany475 · 7.4%6 others listed1,721 · 26.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 260 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 109 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 100 works
  4. 4 Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 71 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 66 works
  6. 6 Fraunhofer-GesellschaftGermany 57 works
  7. 7 NTT (Japan)Japan 55 works
  8. 8 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 55 works
  9. 9 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 52 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang UniversityChina 47 works

Who are the leading researchers in Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices include M. Shoji, Zhong Lin Wang and George M. Whitesides.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  3. 3 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  4. 4 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  5. 5 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  6. 6 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  7. 7 Tien Yin Wong Singapore 237k citations
  8. 8 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  9. 9 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  10. 10 Kai You Wang China 224k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices?

The most cited paper in Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices is "Organic electroluminescent diodes" (Chak Wah Tang, S. A. VanSlyke, 1987), with 14,388 citations. Next come "Optical microcavities" (4,795) and "Optical Processes in Semiconductors" (4,634).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Organic electroluminescent diodes Chak Wah Tang, S. A. VanSlyke · Applied Physics Letters 21 Sep 1987 14,388
2 Optical microcavities Kerry J. Vahala · Nature Aug 2003 4,795
3 Optical Processes in Semiconductors J. I. Pánkové, D. A. Kiewit · Journal of The Electrochemical Society Open access 1972 4,634
4 Quantum Cascade Laser Jérôme Faist, Federico Capasso, Deborah L. Sivco et al. · Science 22 Apr 1994 4,513
5 Fundamentals of Photonics Brian Culshaw, Jose Miguel López-Higuera Book chapter 18 Dec 2012 3,739
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research done?

The largest centres of Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Corning and Santa Clara.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 636 works
  2. 2 TokyoJapan 284 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 188 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 143 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 135 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 129 works
  7. 7 ShenzhenChina 121 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 106 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 105 works
  10. 10 HangzhouChina 103 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CorningUS · 24.4 works164×
  2. Santa ClaraUS · 46.0 works22×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices than the world average.

See Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices on the map

Where is the best place to study Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Northeastern University and Fudan University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 15.56%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northeastern Univers…Fudan UniversityUniversity of Chines…Chalmers University …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62.915.3%5.7×66 +45.7%
2Northeastern UniversityChina 58.033.8%1.8×11 +14.5%
3Fudan UniversityChina 56.816.7%3.6×41 +76.5%
4Chalmers University of TechnologySweden 55.615.0%10.4×19 +39.5%
5University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 55.413.8%6.5×52 +137.5%
6Tsinghua UniversityChina 55.118.8%2.8×46 +30.7%
7Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 55.09.9%6.0×30 +45.1%
8Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 54.86.6%15.5×71 +55.7%
9Zhejiang UniversityChina 54.014.4%2.5×47 +123.9%
10Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 53.511.3%4.3×55 +35.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices, country by country

Is Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2002. The fastest-growing topics are Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.046% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices0.038% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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