Narrow-stripe broad-area lasers with distributed-feedback surface gratings as brilliant sources for high power spectral beam combining systems

J. Decker; P. Crump; J. Fricke; H. Wenzel; A. Maaβdorf; G. Erbert; G. Tränkle

doi:10.1117/12.2031782

12 March 2014 Narrow-stripe broad-area lasers with distributed-feedback surface gratings as brilliant sources for high power spectral beam combining systems

J. Decker, P. Crump, J. Fricke, H. Wenzel, A. Maaβdorf, G. Erbert, G. Tränkle

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8965, High-Power Diode Laser Technology and Applications XII; 89650I (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2031782
Event: SPIE LASE, 2014, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Laser systems based on spectral beam combining (SBC) of broad-area (BA) diode lasers are promising tools for material processing applications. However, the system brightness is limited by the in-plane beam param- eter product, BPP, of the BA lasers, which operate with a BPP of < 3mm-mrad. The EU project BRIDLE (www.bridle.eu) is developing novel diode laser sources for such systems, and several technological advances are sought. For increased system brightness and optimal ber-coupling the diode lasers should operate with reduced BPP and vertical far eld angle (95% power content), μV 95. The resulting diode lasers are fabricated as mini- bars for reduced assembly costs. Gratings are integrated into the mini-bar, with each laser stripe emitting at a different wavelength. In this way, each emitter can be directed into a single bre via low-cost dielectric filters. Distributed-feedback narrow-stripe broad-area (DFB-NBA) lasers are promising candidates for these SBC sys- tems. We review here the design process and performance achieved, showing that DFB-NBA lasers with stripe width, W = 30 μm, successfully cut of higher-order lateral modes, improving BPP. Uniform, surface-etched, 80th-order Bragg gratings are used, with weak gratings essential for high e ciency. To date, such DFB-NBA sources operate with < 50% effciency at output power, Pout < 6 W, with BPP < 1.8 mm-mrad and offV 95 36 . The emission wavelength is about 970 nm and the spectral width is < 0.7 nm (95% power). The BPP is half that of a DFB-BA lasers with W = 90 um. We conclude with a review of options for further performance improvements.

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J. Decker, P. Crump, J. Fricke, H. Wenzel, A. Maaβdorf, G. Erbert, and G. Tränkle "Narrow-stripe broad-area lasers with distributed-feedback surface gratings as brilliant sources for high power spectral beam combining systems", Proc. SPIE 8965, High-Power Diode Laser Technology and Applications XII, 89650I (12 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2031782

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