Spectrally resolved modal characteristics of leaky-wave-coupled quantum cascade phase-locked laser arrays

Chris Sigler; Ricky D. Gibson Jr.; Colin Boyle; Jeremy D. Kirch; Donald F. Lindberg III; Thomas L. Earles; Dan Botez; Luke J. Mawst; Robert G. Bedford

doi:10.1117/1.OE.57.1.011013

19 September 2017 Spectrally resolved modal characteristics of leaky-wave-coupled quantum cascade phase-locked laser arrays

Chris Sigler, Ricky D. Gibson Jr., Colin Boyle, Jeremy D. Kirch, Donald F. Lindberg III, Thomas L. Earles, Dan Botez, Luke J. Mawst, Robert G. Bedford

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Optical Engineering, Vol. 57, Issue 1, 011013 (September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.57.1.011013

Abstract

The modal characteristics of nonresonant five-element phase-locked arrays of 4.7-μm emitting quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have been studied using spectrally resolved near- and far-field measurements and correlated with results of device simulation. Devices are fabricated by a two-step metal-organic chemical vapor deposition process and operate predominantly in an in-phase array mode near threshold, although become multimode at higher drive levels. The wide spectral bandwidth of the QCL’s core region is found to be a factor in promoting multispatial-mode operation at high drive levels above threshold. An optimized resonant-array design is identified to allow sole in-phase array-mode operation to high drive levels above threshold, and indicates that for phase-locked laser arrays full spatial coherence to high output powers does not require full temporal coherence.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Chris Sigler, Ricky D. Gibson Jr., Colin Boyle, Jeremy D. Kirch, Donald F. Lindberg III, Thomas L. Earles, Dan Botez, Luke J. Mawst, and Robert G. Bedford "Spectrally resolved modal characteristics of leaky-wave-coupled quantum cascade phase-locked laser arrays," Optical Engineering 57(1), 011013 (19 September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.57.1.011013

Received: 15 June 2017; Accepted: 16 August 2017; Published: 19 September 2017

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