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.
Among the work done to improve laser performance by optimizing the efficiency of vertical laser structures and thermal management, the spectral quality of the emitted light is a key criterion for the usability of the device. Especially the exact adjustment of the emission wavelength, a small linewidth and a preferably small dependence of the wavelength on temperature changes are important for many applications. These requirements are met by implementing surface gratings into the devices. In the first part of the paper the theoretical tools which are used to simulate and optimize grating reflectivity are presented and discussed. 2D and 3D simulation models confirm possible high reflectivities (more than 90 %) of surface Bragg gratings, if the duty cycle is high (< 0.9). Wafer stepper i-line lithography is particular useful for high volume fabrication with a simple resist process. In order to ensure a sufficiently large duty cycle, high Bragg orders (> 9 @ λ = 630 nm) are required. Electron beam lithography allows better design flexibility and larger etch depth tolerances, but requires a more complex etch mask preparation. With both techniques gratings up to a depth of 1.7 μm can be etched, which is sufficient to reach a high reflectivity for typical AlGaAs based laser structures. A single grating can be thermally tuned up to 7.5 nm. As an example for high power applications a 6 mm long distributed feedback broad laser with a stripe width of 30 μm as part of a spectral beam combining setup is presented. This device achieved a maximum output power of 6 W and a spectral width of 0.3 nm.
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.
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
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Laser development, Distributed Bragg reflectors, Frequency conversion, High power lasers, Light sources, Biomedical optics, Laser applications, Laser systems engineering, Optical design, Optical amplifiers, Near field optics, Electro optics, Near field, Diffraction gratings, Diffraction, Ion implantation
A 1030 nm distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered diode laser with optimized vertical layer structure and lateral design is presented. At a heatsink temperature of 15°C the developed laser provides up to 16 W of optical output power. The maximum electro-optical efficiency is 57%. Intrinsic wavelength stabilization is obtained by a 7th order DBR grating and results in a narrowband emission over the whole power range. Ion implantation next to the ridge-waveguide is applied in order to suppress propagation of unwanted lateral side modes. The highest diffraction-limited central lobe power measured for this device is 9.1 W. With these properties the presented high brightness laser is suitable for applications such as nonlinear frequency conversion.
A new compact 1030 nm picosecond light source which can be switched between pulse gating and mode locking operation is presented. It consists of a multi-section distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser, an ultrafast multisection optical gate and a flared power amplifier (PA), mounted together with high frequency electronics and optical elements on a 5×4 cm micro bench. The master oscillator (MO) is a 10 mm long ridge wave-guide (RW) laser consisting of 200 μm long saturable absorber, 1500 μm long gain, 8000 μm long cavity, 200 μm long DBR and 100 μm long monitor sections. The 2 mm long optical gate consisting of several RW sections is monolithically integrated with the 4 mm long gain-guided tapered amplifier on a single chip. The light source can be switched between pulse gating and passive mode locking operation. For pulse gating all sections of the MO (except of the DBR and monitor sections) are forward biased and driven by a constant current. By injecting electrical pulses into one section of the optical gate the CW beam emitted by the MO is converted into a train of optical pulses with adjustable widths between 250 ps and 1000 ps. Peak powers of 20 W and spectral linewidths in the MHz range are achieved. Shorter pulses with widths between 4 ps and 15 ps and peak powers up to 50 W but larger spectral widths of about 300 pm are generated by mode locking where the saturable absorber section of the MO is reversed biased. The repetition rate of 4.2 GHz of the pulse train emitted by the MO can be reduced to values between 1 kHz and 100 MHz by utilizing the optical gate as pulse picker. The pulse-to-pulse distance can be controlled by an external trigger source.
Nearly diffraction-limited emission from a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered diode laser is presented. Intrinsic
wavelength stabilization is achieved with a 3rd order DBR grating manufactured by electron beam lithography. At a
heatsink temperature of 15°C an optical output power of 12.7 W with an electro-optical efficiency > 40% is obtained.
The corresponding emission wavelength is 1030.57 nm and spectral bandwidths of 0.02 nm are measured over the whole
power range. At 10.5 W of optical power 8.1 W are contained in the central lobe. The measured beam propagation ratio
and brightness are 1.1 (1/e2) and 700 MWcm-2 sr-1, respectively. With these parameters, the laser is suitable for
applications such as non-linear frequency conversion.
Distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered lasers emitting near 1180 nm were developed. The integration of DBR surface gratings in an edge-emitting laser structure with a highly strained quantum well and a tapered laser geometry allows nearly diffraction limited emission into a single longitudinal mode with an optical output power of more than 2 W. The laser will allow direct second harmonic generation (SHG) in a single pass configuration and hence will enable the manufacturing of miniaturized laser modules near 590 nm for out-of-the-lab applications. An integration of a heater element at the DBR grating allows the tuning of the emission wavelength of more than 2 nm without the mechanical movement of gratings. This easy tuning simplifies the phase matching to a SHG crystal.
We present DFB laser diodes emitting in the 76x nm wavelengths range and focus on design and fabrication of the integrated Bragg gratings. Grating functionality is obtained with a periodically patterned GaAs0.75P0.25 layer with a thickness of 13 nm. We applied scanning transmission electron microscopy using a high angle annular dark-field detector for the analysis of the buried grating structures and for the improvement of the etching and regrowth conditions. Ridge waveguide DFB lasers with optimized gratings and production process show single mode emission with intrinsic linewidths below 10 kHz. Coated 1.5 mm long ridge waveguide DFB lasers emit stable over 5000 hours at a constant power of 100 mW.
Detailed experimental investigations of the generation of high-energy short infrared and green pulses with a mode-locked multi-section distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser in dependence on the lengths of the gain section and the saturableabsorber (SA) section as well the corresponding input currents and reverse voltages, respectively, are presented. The laser under investigation is 3.5 mm long and has a 500 μm long DBR section. The remaining cavity was divided into four 50 μm, four 100 μm, two 200 μm and eight 250 μm long electrically separated segments so that the lengths of the gain and SA sections can be simply varied by bonding. Thus, the dependence of the mode-locking behavior on the lengths of the gain and SA sections can be investigated on the same device. Optimal mode-locking was obtained for absorber lengths between LAbs = 200 μm and 300 μm and absorber voltages between UAbs= -2 V and -3 V. A pulse length of τ ≈ 10 ps, a repetition frequency of 13 GHz and a RF line width of less than 100 kHz were measured. An infrared peak pulse power of 900 mW was reached. The FWHM of the optical spectrum was about 150 pm. With an 11.5 mm long periodically poled MgO doped LiNbO3 crystal having a ridge geometry of 5 μm width and 4 μm height green light pulses were generated. With an infrared pump peak power of 900 mW a green pulse energy of 3.15 pJ was reached. The opto-optical conversion efficiency was about 31%.
KEYWORDS: Near field optics, Pulsed laser operation, Waveguides, Semiconductor lasers, Switching, Fiber lasers, High power lasers, Picosecond phenomena, Near field, Fiber Bragg gratings
In this paper we present detailed experimental results of the impact of the amplitude and the widths of current pulses injected into a gain-switched distributed feedback (DFB) laser emitting at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The laser with a InGaAs triple quantum well active region has a 3 μm wide ridge waveguide (RW) and a cavity length of 1.5 mm. Gainswitching is achieved by injecting current pulses with a width of 50 ns, a repetition frequency of 200 kHz and a very high amplitude up to 40 times the threshold current (2.5 A). Time resolved investigations show, that depending on the amplitude and the duration of the current pulses, the optical power exhibits different types of oscillatory behavior during the pulses, accompanied by changes in the lateral near field intensity profiles and optical spectra. Three different types of instabilities can be distinguished: Mode beating with frequencies between 25 GHz and 30 GHz, switching between different lateral modes and self-sustained oscillations with a frequency of about 4 GHz. Our results are relevant for the utilization of gain-switched DFB-RW lasers as seed lasers for fiber laser systems and in other applications, which require high optical power.
Broad area (BA) diode lasers with narrow, temperature-stable spectral lines are required for pumping narrow spectral
lines in solid state lasers and for dense spectral multiplexing in direct applications. Two device technologies in particular
have reached a high performance level, based on development work at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH). Firstly,
etched surface gratings can be used to form the rear facet reflector, in distributed Bragg-reflector (DBR) format.
Secondly, gratings can be buried within the semiconductor using etch and overgrowth technology, to form distributed
feedback (DFB) lasers. In this case, the rear facet has a high reflectivity coating, and the DFB operates effectively as the
low reflectivity out-coupler. For both technologies, BA diode lasers with 90-100μm stripes operating at 975nm deliver
peak continuous wave (CW) powers of over 12W within a spectral width of < 1nm (with 95% power content). Recently,
reliable operation has been confirmed for CW powers of 10W, and power conversion efficiency of up to 63% has been
demonstrated. However, the two technologies have different strengths. For example, DBR-BA lasers have low sensitivity
to external feedback and are insensitive to the onset of spectral side-modes. In contrast, DFB-BA lasers achieve the
highest reported power conversion efficiencies. A comparison of the relative merits of the two technologies for different
high power laser applications is presented.
Diode lasers are ideally suited for the generation of optical pulses in the nanoseconds and picoseconds ranges by gainswitching,
Q-switching or mode-locking. We have developed diode-laser based light sources where the pulses are
spectrally stabilized and nearly-diffraction limited as required by many applications. Diffraction limited emission is
achieved by a several microns wide ridge waveguide (RW), so that only the fundamental lateral mode should lase.
Spectral stabilization is realized with a Bragg grating integrated into the semiconductor chip, resulting in distributed
feedback (DFB) or distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers. We obtained a peak power of 3.8W for 4ns long pulses
using a gain-switched DFB laser and a peak power of more than 4W for 65ps long pulses using a three-section DBR
laser. Higher peak powers of several tens of Watts can be reached by an amplification of the pulses with semiconductor
optical amplifiers, which can be either monolithically or hybrid integrated with the master oscillators. We developed
compact modules with a footprint of 4×5cm2 combining master oscillator, tapered power amplifier, beam-shaping optical
elements and high-frequency electronics. In order to diminish the generation of amplified spontaneous emission between
the pulses, the amplifier is modulated with short-pulses of high amplitude, too. Beyond the amplifier, we obtained a peak
power of more than 10W for 4ns long pulses, a peak power of about 35W for 80ps long pulses and a peak power of 70W
for 10ps long pulses at emission wavelengths around 1064nm.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, Optical design, Waveguides, Continuous wave operation, Semiconducting wafers, Diodes, High power lasers, Reliability, High power diode lasers
Diode lasers that deliver high continuous wave optical output powers (> 5W) within a narrow, temperature-stable
spectral window are required for many applications. One technical solution is to bury Bragg-gratings within the
semiconductor itself, using epitaxial overgrowth techniques to form distributed-feedback broad-area (DFB-BA) lasers.
However, such stabilization is only of interest when reliability, operating power and power conversion efficiency are not
compromised. Results will be presented from the ongoing optimization of such DFB-BA lasers at the Ferdinand-Braun-
Institut (FBH). Our development work focused on 976nm devices with 90μm stripe width, as required for pumping
Nd:YAG, as well as for direct applications. Such devices operate with a narrow spectral width of < 1nm (95% power
content) to over 10W continuous wave (CW) optical output. Further optimization of epitaxial growth and device design
has now largely eliminated the excess optical loss and electrical resistance typically associated with the overgrown
grating layer. These developments have enabled, for the first time, DFB-BA lasers with peak CW power conversion
efficiency of > 60% with < 1nm spectral width (95% power content). Reliable operation has also been demonstrated,
with 90μm stripe devices operating for over 4000 hours to date without failure at 7W (CW). We detail the technological
developments required to achieve these results and discuss the options for further improvements.
In this work, we investigate experimentally optimized monolithic distributed-feedback (DFB) tapered master-oscillator
power amplifiers (MOPA). The devices consist of three autonomously driven sections: a 1 mm long DFB ridgewaveguide
(RW) laser, a 1 mm long RW pre-amplifier and 2 mm or 4 mm long tapered amplifiers. The ridge width and
the full taper angle are 5 μm and 6°, respectively. Both laser facets are anti-reflection coated. The second order Bragg
gratings in the DFB laser were realized by holographic photolithography, wet-chemical etching and a two-step epitaxy.
The DFB tapered MOPAs emit nearly diffraction limited spectral single mode CW radiation at 1064 nm. The 6 mm long
devices provide an optical power of about 12 W at DFB laser, pre-amplifier and tapered amplifier currents of 150 mA,
400 mA and 18 A, respectively. The 4 mm long devices generate more than 4 W at a tapered amplifier current of 7 A.
The spectral drift versus output power is below 50 pm/W.
KEYWORDS: Continuous wave operation, Absorption, Waveguides, High power diode lasers, Optical design, Laser development, Broad area laser diodes, High power lasers, Semiconductor lasers
Many pumping and direct diode applications of high power diode lasers require sources that operate within a narrow (<
1nm) temperature stable spectral line. The natural linewidth of high power broad area lasers is too wide (4-5nm) and
varies too quickly with temperature (0.3-0.4nm/K) for such applications. The spectrum can be narrowed by introducing
gratings within the diode laser itself or by the use of an external stabilization via a Volume Bragg Grating, VBG. For
optimal loss-free, low cost wavelength stabilization with a VBG, the narrowest possible far field angles are preferred,
provided power and efficiency are not compromised. Devices that contain internal gratings are potentially the lowest
manufacturing cost option, provided performance remains acceptable, as no external optics are required. Therefore, in
order to address the need for high power with narrow linewidth, three different diode laser device designs have been
developed and are discussed here. For VBG use, two options are compared: (1) devices with high conversion efficiency
(68% peak) and reasonable far field (45° with 95% power content) and (2) devices with extremely small vertical far field
angle (30° with 95% power content) and reasonable conversion efficiency (59% peak). Thirdly, the latest performance
results from broad area devices with internal distributed feedback gratings (DFB-BA Lasers) are also presented,
constructed here using buried overgrowth technology. DFB-BA lasers achieve peak conversion efficiency of 58% and
operate with < 1nm linewidth operation to over 10W continuous wave at 25°C. As a result, the system developer can
now select from a range of high performance diode laser designs depending on the requirements.
We present high-power ridge waveguide (RW) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and DFB master optical power
amplifiers (DFB-MOPAs) with high-quality beams optimized for pulsed operation and current modulation. A Bragg
grating ensures stable longitudinal single-mode emission around 1064 nm. Furthermore, vertical and lateral structures of
the devices were optimized for stable fundamental-mode operation. The slope efficiency of 1 mm DFB lasers slightly
above threshold is as high as 0.95 W/A and the continuous wave (cw) optical output power is almost 400 mW at a
current of 500 mA. For the DFB-MOPAs a cw output power of 1 W has been obtained. Due to low ellipticity, low
divergence and low beam steering of the output beams the devices are well suited for efficient coupling to single mode
waveguides.
In this work a compact green laser light source is presented based on a single-pass second harmonic generation (SHG) in
non-linear material. The green light source consists of a distributed feedback (DFB) laser with a monolithically
integrated power amplifier (PA) and a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal with a ridge waveguide. To
achieve the smallest size and to reduce the number of parts to be assembled, a direct coupling approach is implemented
without using any lens. The waveguide of the laser is bent and the facet of the crystal is tilted and AR-coated in order to
reduce undesired reflections and to increase the stability of operation. By varying the injection current of the amplifier
the infrared output power of the laser changes proportionally. The wavelength remains stable during current variation
and in that way the green optical output power can also be modulated. No additional external modulator is required for
the generation of distinct green light levels. At a wavelength of 530 nm, a green optical output power of more than
35 mW is achieved for injection currents of 93 mA and 400 mA through the DFB section and amplifier section
respectively.
Distributed feedback ridge-waveguide lasers have been developed. The distributed feedback is provided by a second
order grating, formed into an InGaP/GaAsP/InGaP multilayer structure. A threshold current of 40 mA and a
differential quantum efficiency of 0.8 W/A is achieved. The lasers emit up to 200 mW in a single lateral and
longitudinal mode around 794.7 nm and 780.0 nm. These wavelength regions are of particular interest for
applications in absorption spectroscopy of the rubidium D1 and D2 lines and atomic clocks. These applications
require a stable lasing wavelength with small spectral line width and possibility of a fine tuning. By changing the
output power with current and / or the heatsink temperature the wavelength can be tuned to reveal the hyperfine
structure of the rubidium lines. This was verified by passing the laser emission through a 80 mm long rubidium cell
and measuring the transmitted power versus current and temperature. It is shown, that a hyperfine structure
measurement of the rubidium lines can be performed in a less than 9 μs. Due to the large side mode suppression ratio
of >45 dB and the small spectral line width of ~ 200 kHz these lasers are ideally suited for absorption spectroscopy
The authors have developed a new compact integration concept for a green laser emitter. Compact green light sources
are of great interest for several applications such as in spectroscopy and mobile displays. The requirements for such
sources are low noise, high-frequency modulation capability, compactness, reliability, low power consumption, and low
cost. The developed green-light source fulfils these requirements due to its dense integration while allowing larger
tolerances within the fabrication processes. The green-laser emission of 30 mW is generated using second harmonic
generation (SHG) in a nonlinear crystal. As pumping light source, a reliable GaAs semiconductor laser diode with an
emission wavelength at 1060 nm has been developed. This
single-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode has
a sidemode suppression ratio better than 40 dB and an optical power of up to 325 mW. The SHG device is a periodically
poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. The 1060 nm pump light is directly coupled to the passive nonlinear
waveguide. To enable the precise operating temperature conditions for DFB and PPLN, both components are mounted
on separate temperature controllers. As confirmed also by
thermo-mechanical simulations, the presented compact,
reliable integration of green-light emitter enhances the overall yield by introducing a fabrication process tolerant
integration scheme.
We present a compact green light emitter for laser displays and focus on the pump source for a SHG waveguide in
single-pass configuration. The developed pump source has a RW-structure consisting of three sections: a DFB, a spacer
and an amplifier section. The optical output power is 305mW for currents of 120mA and 400mA in DFB and amplifier
section. The control of the current in the amplifier section allows a modulation of the output power from 5mW to
305mW. Spectral characteristics as well as measured beam divergence are well suited for pumping SHG waveguide
crystals. Results on the hybrid 530nm emitter are summarized.
Distributed feedback ridge-waveguide lasers, emitting up to 250 mW in a single lateral and longitudinal mode at 852
nm and 894 nm are presented. A threshold current of 40 mA and a differential quantum efficiency of 1 W/A is
achieved. The distributed feedback is provided by a second order grating, formed into an InGaP/GaAs/InGaP
multilayer structure. Owing to the stable lasing frequency, the large side mode suppression ratio (>40 dB) and the
small spectral line width (<500 kHz) the lasers are well suited for atomic clocks and Caesium D1 and D2
spectroscopy. This was verified by the measurement of the hyperfine structure of the Caesium lines.
The dynamical behavior of a single-mode laser subject to optical feedback is investigated in the limit, when the delay time is much shorter than the period of the relaxation oscillations. Use of an integrated DFB device allows us to control the feedback phase. The system shows a very rich manifold of nonlinear phenomena. Among them are two kinds of Hopf bifurcations associated with regular self-pulsations of different frequencies as well as a fold and period doubling bifurcation.
We discuss some aspects of the excitability in a semiconductor laser with short external cavity. It is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally how a two-section semiconductor laser consisting of a DFB section and an integrated passive phase tuning section performs an excitable response to optical injection. A mode analysis of the model equations allows to understand and explain the origin of the excitability.
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