We present a passively mode-locked monolithic diode laser operating at 780 nm. It features a tapered gain section serving as a power booster and generates ultrashort pulses (~8 ps) with a peak power of approximately 45 W and a repetition rate of 6.6 GHz. The estimated beam propagation ratio is less than 1.3. This diode laser is intended as a compact and cost-efficient alternative to Ti:sapphire lasers for use in two-photon-polymerization-based 3D-printing systems.
We report progress in the development of GaAs-based laser diodes with ultra-wide stripe widths of W = 1200 μm emitting at a wavelength of λ = 915 nm. In order to restrict ring oscillations and higher order modes in these ultra-wide devices we utilise periodic current structuring with a period of 29 μm and width of 20 μm. We compare the performance of a device with current structuring realised through contact layer implantation of the device after epitaxial growth, termed a 'Contact Implant' laser, and a device with buried current structuring close to the active region of the device realised using two step epitaxial regrowth and Buried-Regrown-Implant-Structure (BRIS) technology, termed a 'BRIS' laser. Quasi-Continuous Wave (QCW) measurement of the devices show that both the 'Contact Implant' and 'BRIS' laser achieve a very high peak output power of Popt = 200 W at a power conversion efficiency of ηE = 59% and ηE = 52%, respectively, with a peak efficiency of around 70%. QCW beam-quality measurements show that the 'BRIS' laser has a much reduced 95% power content far-field angle of 9°, compared to 12.7° for the 'contact implant' laser, at a power of Popt = 100 W. Under Continuous Wave (CW) operation the 'contact implant' laser reaches an output power of Popt = 68 W at ηE = 57% and the 'BRIS' laser reaches Popt = 53 W at ηE = 50%, but with a reduced far-field angle of 11.9° at Popt = 40 W for the 'BRIS' laser.
In this paper, we will show reliable lasing performance of distributed Bragg reflector tapered diode lasers (DBR-TPLs) emitting at 1180 nm more than 7 W in continuous wave operation for 3,000 h without failure. The devices feature an epitaxial layer structure with an optimized strained double quantum well in a newly developed asymmetric large optical cavity resulting in a small vertical far field emission of 16° (FWHM). The DBR-TPLs consist of a 4 mm long tapered gain-guided section and a 2 mm long ridge waveguide section containing a 1 mm long DBR-grating. Owing to the integrated DBR-grating the investigated devices show predominantly longitudinal single mode emission between mode hops and an excellent beam quality with a power content of more than 75% in the central lobe at 8 W. Therefore, DBR-TPLs emitting at 1180 nm have become a highly efficient and narrowband light source, which can be used for efficient frequency doubling and enable various applications. In this paper epitaxial, device and emission characteristics will be discussed in detail.
Epi-down mounting can degrade performance in broad area lasers when the stress field extends into the active region. Thick p-side epitaxial layers have the potential to isolate the device from external stress, but add electrical resistance and losses from current spreading. Therefore, we use two-step epitaxy to combine highly-doped p-side epitaxial layers (2x thicker than conventional) with a resistive oxygen-implanted layer located close to the active region to block lateral current spreading. The resulting buried-regrown-implant-structure (BRIS) lasers with 100 μm stripes and lasing wavelength of 915 nm show high efficiency (peak of 67%, 55% at 20 W) and high lateral brightness (3.3 W/mm·mrad up to 17.5 W output power), improved over reference devices, in spite of the thick p-side.
In recent years, lasers in the wavelength range of 760 nm are getting more and more popular as they are needed in a greater variety of applications like nanometrology, sensors or material analysis. Thus, devices with high optical power and good beam quality are in great demand at these wavelengths. Another need is lasers with very small dimensions. Many of these applications are in “out of the lab” environments with limited space and in hazard conditions; for example, in space and planets exploration. In this context, tapered lasers (TPLs) are very promising candidates to fulfil these needs. TPLs can reach very high optical powers with excellent beam qualities, as individual diode lasers or in laser modules with very small dimensions. In this work, we present our results concerning the development of our new TPLs at 760 nm. We show two different epitaxial laser structures that we used to build these diode lasers. For this purpose, a GaAs0.75P0.25 single quantum well was used as active region. The lasers were mounted p-side up onto conductively cooled heat sinks for continuous-wave operation, which allows separate driving currents for the ridge (RW) and tapered (TA) sections. Also, we compare tapered laser diodes with different lengths of the ridge waveguide section and will show the influence of these parameters on the electro-optical performance of the tapered diode lasers. The mounted lasers feature an optical output power of more than 9 W, a conversion efficiency of more than 50 % at a heat-sink temperature of 15 °C and nearly diffraction limited emission.
High-power, efficient semiconductor laser bars are demanded in many applications including pumping solid-state lasers and fibers. A narrow beam divergence is essential for increasing coupling efficiency and realizing an overall simple, cost-effective system. In kilowatt-class laser bars with 4 mm resonator length containing multiple broad-area emitters (with stripe width varying within 90–1200 μm) that are fabricated using conventional processing techniques, a strong thermal lens is generated within the individual emitters during laser operation. The lensing effect becomes stronger with increasing operating power. This allows a large number of lateral modes to be guided within the resonator and contribute to the laser emission, consequently deteriorating the beam quality (i.e. leading to larger lateral beam divergence angle). An approach to reduce the lateral divergence of the bar by modifying the in-plane structure of the emitters is presented. Based on simulation results, multiple lateral emitter structures have been developed and measured in quasi-continuous wave mode at low and high heat conditions with thermal resistance of 0.02 K/W and 0.05 K/W, respectively, comparable to continuous-wave testing with advanced coolers. Experimental results show that the improved lateral structures lead to enhanced power-current performance and improved beam divergence. A reduction of around 20% (~2°) in the bar lateral beam divergence angle at 95% power content has been achieved in testing at 800 W, with a simultaneous 5%-points gain in conversion efficiency with the highest performance lateral emitter structure.
GaAs-based 1-cm bars based on extreme-triple-asymmetric (ETAS) epitaxial designs are presented. The investigated structure shows low optical loss and weak power saturation at high current allowing high output power Popt and power-conversion-efficiency ηΕ. The resulting ETAS bars containing 20 emitters with 395 μm wide stripes and 4 mm long cavity, operate with the highest-to-date quasi-continuous-wave power (200 μs, 10 Hz) Popt = 1.9 kW, delivered from just one quantum well, with maximum ηΕ = 67% at THS = 298 K heat-sink temperature. High ηΕ = 62% is maintained at 1.0 kW and remains 55% at 1.5 kW. Even higher Popt = 2.26 kW is achieved at a reduced THS = 203 K. At 203 K, maximum ηΕ climbs to 74% while maintaining a high ηΕ < 60% up to 2 kW, and reaches 55% at 2.26 kW. We also present progress in lateral bar layout, which is further optimized for narrow lateral beam divergence and evaluated for the first time up to 2 kA current. Experimental results show that lateral far field at 95% power can be lowered by 2-3° without sacrificing Popt and ηΕ, reaching ~15° at 1.8 kW at 298 K. Polarization purity also remains < 95% across the full measured range.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, High power lasers, Temperature metrology, Continuous wave operation, Near field, Optical testing, Near field optics, Thermography
Results of an extended series of experimental studies into the beam parameter product (BPP) of high-power diode lasers are summarized, covering efforts to clearly diagnose the limiting factors and develop novel device technology to address these limits. We review diagnostic studies, separating BPP empirically into bias-dependent (thermal) and bias-independent (non-thermal) terms for convenience of analysis. First, we use monolithically grating-stabilized lasers to confirm the presence of a well-defined series of guided modes, rather than filaments. Second, we present results from a series of custom devices and tests (guided by targeted simulations). Third, we show that effects driven by thermal lensing and current spreading dominate the variation in BPP with bias. The residual bias-independent BPP background remains around 30- 50% of the total, and is most likely partly limited by gain-guiding effects. Fourth, the presence of longitudinal temperature variation due to non-uniform optical intensity along the resonator further degrades the bias-independent background level. Lateral current blocking technology is shown to reduce current spreading, and improve the bias-dependent BPP. Thermal engineering also improves bias-dependent BPP, achieved by varying epitaxial layer structure and by targeted changes in bar layout, clarified using measurements in thermography cross-referenced to simulation. In summary, we contend that experimental studies have allowed the effects that limit lateral BPP to be largely clarified, so that research efforts can now focus on developing device technology suitable for reducing BPP without other penalties. The background level to BPP remains an open topic, and further study is needed to better understand and address this.
GaAs based high power broad area lasers are the most efficient source of optical energy and are used in many industrial applications. Despite considerable improvement in power and efficiency in recent years, further improvement is needed due to the high demand from industry. We review here progress in vertical epitaxial layer design, showing how higher performance is enabled by migrating from asymmetric large optical cavity (ASLOC) designs to the newly developed extreme-triple-asymmetric (ETAS) vertical structure. Building on earlier studies at 940 nm, we focus on gain-guided lasers that have operating wavelength 970 nm, have 90 μm stripe width and 4 mm resonator length. We can emphasize the positive impact of epitaxial layer design, without need for advanced lateral structures. We show how design improvement increases conversion efficiency ηΕ at 12 W output power from 56% to 66%, whilst peak (saturation) power increases from Popt = 14 to 19 W in continuous wave (CW) mode for p-down single emitters on CuW carriers (thermal resistance 3 K/W). Progress in epitaxial design also leads to smaller lateral beam parameter product (BP Plat) at higher bias, leading to lateral brightness Popt/BPPlat < 3 W/mm × mrad. Specifically, in these most recent ETAS structures, by design BPPlat increases more slowly with self-heating, and this leads directly to lower BPPlat at high bias. We will also review options for further increased performance, include efforts to understand and improve BPPlat, which is also limited by a non-thermal ground level BPP0 (here ∼ 1 mm × mrad).
We present 940nm GaAs-based high-power broad-area diode lasers that use an enhanced self-aligned lateral structure "eSAS", implemented within an extreme-triple-asymmetric vertical structure with a thin p-side. In this structure, two-step epitaxial growth with intermediate selective etching is used to introduce current-blocking structures consisting of n-doped GaAs and InGaP layers outside the laser stripe, whose location, thicknesses and doping concentrations are precisely defined. These blocking structures confine current to the device center, thus reducing carrier losses in the edges and limiting the detrimental effects of lateral current spreading and carrier accumulation on beam quality, without compromising conversion efficiency, output power or polarization purity. We present results of eSAS single-emitters as well as bars with multiple emitters, in comparison to gain-guided reference devices. In addition, we demonstrate optimized blocking structures with improved current blocking, which are crucial for the realization of the eSAS structure.
We present 1 kW-emitting diode-laser bars optimized for higher conversion efficiency and smaller far-field angle Θ95% power content), as needed, e.g., for solid-state laser pumping (wavelength λ= 940 nm). First, we review the latest high-efficiency designs, targeting reduced series resistance Rs and less power saturation and then discuss developments for high brightness via tailored chip-internal heat distribution. Recent results include conversion efficiency η of 66% and far-field width Θ 95%= 8.8° at 1 kW (thermal resistance Rth ~ 0.02 K/W), as well as 64% efficiency and 10.8° divergence at Rth ~ 0.05 K/W, equivalent to CW operation with advanced packaging.
KEYWORDS: Near field, Semiconductor lasers, Silicon, Epitaxy, High power lasers, Resistance, Broad area laser diodes, Semiconducting wafers, High power diode lasers, Cladding
Over the last decades considerable efforts have been undertaken to increase output power, conversion efficiency and beam quality of GaAs based broad-area diode lasers by optimizing the epitaxial layer design as well as the lateral device structure. In this respect the reduction of current spreading is essential to meet future requirements for high power diode lasers. Lateral current spreading enhances the accumulation of carriers at the edges of the active region defined by the contact stripes which results in additional leakage current and lasing of higher-order lateral modes, reducing efficiency and beam quality. We address this issue by implementing a tailored deep implantation scheme as a current block, implanting O and Si, using two-step epitaxy. This work elucidates the effects of buried current apertures, fabricated by Si and O doping at different doses on the optoelectronic properties of broad area lasers. It will be shown how deep O- and Si-implantation significantly suppresses current spreading, leading to lower threshold currents and higher efficiency.
In this work, a widely tunable hybrid master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) diode laser with 6.2 W of output power at 971.8 nm will be presented. The MO is a DBR laser, with a micro heater embedded on top of the DBR grating for wavelength tunability. The emitted light of the MO is collimated and coupled into a tapered amplifier using micro cylindrical lenses, all constructed on a compact 25 mm ⨯ 25 mm conduction cooled laser package. The MOPA system emits light with a measured spectral width smaller than 17 pm, limited by the spectrometer, and with a beam propagation factor of M21/e2= 1.3 in the slow axis. The emission is thus nearly diffraction limited with 79% of the total power within the central lobe (4.9 W diffraction limited). The electrically controlled micro-heater provides up to 5.5 nm of wavelength tunability, up to a wavelength of 977.3 nm, while maintaining an output power variation of only ± 0.16 % for the entire tuning range.
Widely-tunable lasers without moving parts are attractive light sources for sensors in industry and biomedicine. In contrast to InP based sampled grating (SG) distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) diode lasers which are commercially available, shorter wavelength GaAs SG-DBR lasers are still under development. One reason is the difficulty to integrate gratings with coupling coefficients that are high enough for functional grating bursts with lengths below 10 μm. Recently we have demonstrated > 20 nm wide quasi-continuous tuning with a GaAs based SG-DBR laser emitting around 975 nm. Wavelength selective reflectors are realized with SGs having different burst periods for the front and back mirrors. Thermal tuning elements (resistors) which are placed on top of the SG allow the control of the spectral positions of the SG reflector combs and hence to adjust the Vernier mode. In this work we characterize subsections of the developed SG-DBR laser to further improve its performance. We study the impact of two different vertical structures (with vertical far field FWHMs of 41° and 24°) and two grating orders on the coupling coefficient. Gratings with coupling coefficients above 350 cm-1 have been integrated into SG-DBR lasers. We also examine electronic tuning elements (a technique which is typically applied in InP based SG-DBR lasers and allows tuning within nanoseconds) and discuss the limitations in the GaAs material system
Er3+/Yb3+-codoped 92SiO2-8TiO2 planar waveguides, with 1.2 mol% Er and molar ratio Er/Yb of 2, were fabricated by rf-sputtering technique. The active films were deposited on silica-on-silicon and v-SiO2 substrates. The parameters of preparation were chosen in order to optimize the waveguides for operation in the NIR region with particular attention to the minimization of the losses. The thickness of the waveguides and the refractive index at 632.8 and 543.5 nm were measured by an m-line apparatus. The losses, for the TE0 mode, were evaluated at 632.8 and 1300 nm. The structural properties were investigated with several techniques such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Raman Spectroscopy. All waveguides were single-mode at 1550 nm. An attenuation coefficient of 0.5 dB/cm at 632.8 nm and 0.1 dB/cm at 1300 nm were measured. The emission of 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 of Er3+ ion transition with a 40 nm bandwidth was observed upon excitation at 981 and 514.5 nm in the TE0 mode. Back energy transfer from Er3+ to Yb3+ was demonstrated. Photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy was used to obtain information about the effective excitation efficiency of Er3+ ions by co-doping with Yb3+ ions.
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