Alexander Miglo

Efficient vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for infrared illumination applications

Infrared illumination is used in the commercial and defense markets for surveillance and security, for high-speed imaging, and for military covert operations. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are an attractive candidate for IR illumination applications as they offer advantageous properties such as efficiency, intrinsically low diverging circular beam, low-cost manufacturing, narrow emission spectrum, and high reliability. VCSELs can also operate at high temperatures, thereby meeting the harsh environmental requirements of many illuminators. The efficiency and brightness of these VCSELs also reduce the requirements of the power supply compared to, for example, an LED approach. We present results on VCSEL arrays for illumination applications, as well as results on VCSEL-based illumination experiments. These VCSELs are used in illuminators emitting from a few Watts up to several hundred Watts. The emission of these VCSEL-based illuminators is speckle-free with no interference patterns. Infra-red illumination at up to 1,600ft (500m) from the source has been demonstrated using VCSEL-based illumination, without any optics.

High-power vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for solid-state laser pumping

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have emerged as a promising candidate for pumping of solid-state lasers, as they can be configured into high-power two-dimensional arrays and modules of arrays. VCSELs emit in a circular, uniform beam which can greatly reduce the complexity and cost of coupling optics. Their narrow and stable emission spectrum is well suited to the narrow absorption spectrum generally observed for solid-state gain media. The superior reliability of VCSELs greatly enhances the robustness of solid-state laser systems and enables high-temperature operation. In this work, we discuss recent developments on kW-class VCSEL pumps for solid-state lasers. Results on VCSEL modules designed for end-pumping and for side-pumping are presented. More than 4kW in CW operation is demonstrated from a multi-array VCSEL module. We also present results on solid-state lasers using VCSEL modules as pumps. In an end-pumping configuration, more than 250W peak power at 1064nm is demonstrated, and in a sidepumping Q-switched configuration, more than 21mJ at 946nm is demonstrated for an Nd:YAG solid-state laser.

High-brightness pump sources using 2D VCSEL arrays

Many applications require laser pump sources with high output power (tens to hundreds of Watts) in the smallest spot, with the smallest divergence. Such high-brightness pump sources typically use edge-emitting semiconductor lasers. However, it is also possible to use high-power two-dimensional vertical-cavity surfaceemitting laser (VCSEL) arrays for this purpose. Using a single 976nm 2D VCSEL array chip in an external cavity configuration, combined with a matching micro-lens array, we have demonstrated more than 30W output power from a 50μm/0.22NA fiber, corresponding to a brightness of 10MW/cm2.sr. This represents a substantial reduction in module complexity compared to edge-emitter based modules with similar brightness. These novel high-brightness pump sources exhibit some well-known intrinsic VCSEL performance features such as wavelength stability and narrow spectrum. Power and brightness can be scaled up using polarization and spectral combining.

Progress on vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser arrays for infrared illumination applications

For infrared illumination with wavelength range of 808nm-1064nm, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) offer many advantageous properties including superior beam quality (such as low divergence, circular shape beam and speckle-free image), increased eye safety, high reliability and low manufacturing cost. We report our progress on highpower high-efficiency VCSELs and two dimensional (2D) VCSEL arrays for such illumination applications. GaAs-based VCSEL wafers are grown by MOCVD and processed into either top-emitting or bottom-emitting devices depending on the emission wavelength and applications. Results from both single devices and arrays are presented. In particular, record-high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 63.4% with 300mW output was achieved from VCSELs at 1064nm. Such VCSELs also operate with <55% PCE at 50C. For a 2mm by 10mm array, 56.4% PCE with 150W output was demonstrated. Using those VCSELs and arrays as building blocks, various high power illuminators ranging from a few Watts to over 100 kiloWatts have been fabricated.

Two-dimensional pseudo-random optical phased array based on tandem optical injection locking of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers.

We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, a pseudo-random, two-dimensional optical phased array (OPA) concept based on tandem injection locking of 64-element vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays. A low cavity-Q VCSEL design resulted in an injection locking optical power of less than 1 μW per VCSEL, providing large OPA scaling potential. Tandem injection locking of two VCSEL arrays resulted in measured controllable optical phase change of 0-1.6π. A high quality beam formed with suppressed grating lobes due to the pseudo-random array design was demonstrated with performance close to simulated results. A preliminary 2.2° x 1.2° beam steering example using the tandem arrays was also demonstrated.

High power VCSEL array pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers

Solid-state lasers pumped by high-power two-dimensional arrays of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) were investigated. Both end-pumping and side-pumping schemes of Nd:YAG lasers with high power kW-class 808 nm VCSEL pump modules were implemented. For one application 10 mJ blue laser pulses were obtained from a frequencydoubled actively Q-switched VCSEL-array dual side-pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at 946 nm. For another application 10 mJ green laser pulses were obtained from a frequency-doubled passively Q-switched VCSEL-array endpumped Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. Both QCW and CW pumping schemes were investigated to achieve high average Q-switched power.

High-power red VCSEL arrays

High-power red laser sources are used in many applications such as cosmetics, cancer photodynamic therapy, and DNA sequencing in the medical field, laser-based RGB projection display, and bar-code scanning to name a few. Verticalcavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) can be used as high-power laser sources, as efficient single devices can be configured into high-power two-dimensional arrays and scaled into modules of arrays. VCSELs emit in a circular, uniform beam which can greatly reduce the complexity and cost of optics. Other advantages include a narrow and stable emission spectrum, low speckle of the far-field emission, and good reliability. However, developing efficient red VCSEL sources presents some challenges because of the reduced quantum-well carrier confinement and the increased Aluminum content (to avoid absorption) which increases thermal impedance, and also decreases the DBR index contrast resulting in increased penetration length and cavity losses. We have recently developed VCSEL devices lasing in the visible 6xx nm wavelength band, and reaching 30% power conversion efficiency. We fabricated high-power 2D arrays by removing the GaAs substrate entirely and soldered the chips on high thermal conductivity submounts. Such arrays have demonstrated several Watts of output power at room temperature, in continuous-wave (CW) operation. Several tens of Watts are obtained in QCW operation. Results and challenges of these high-power visible VCSEL arrays will be discussed.

High power high repetition rate VCSEL array side-pumped pulsed blue laser

High power, kW-class, 808 nm pump modules based on the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology were developed for side-pumping of solid-state lasers. Two 1.2 kW VCSEL pump modules were implemented in a dual side-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 946 nm. The laser output was frequency doubled in a BBO crystal to produce pulsed blue light. With 125 μs pump pulses at a 300 Hz repetition rate 6.1 W QCW 946 nm laser power was produced. The laser power was limited by thermal lensing in the Nd:YAG rod.

High-power vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for diode pumped solid-state lasers

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers can be processed in large two-dimensional arrays of single devices to scale up the power for solid-state laser pumping. These arrays emit in a circular, uniform beam, with a narrow and stable emission spectrum that is well suited to the absorption spectra of solid-state gain media. kW-class 808 nm QCW VCSEL pump modules were developed to pump compact Nd:YAG lasers. An end-pumped Nd:YAG laser was constructed that produced 7.1 W average IR power, as well as a dual side-pumped passively Q-switched frequency-quadrupled Nd:YAG laser that generated 0.8 mJ UV pulses at a 240 Hz repetition rate.

Progress on high-power 808nm VCSELs and applications

High power 808nm semiconductor lasers are widely used for pumping neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) crystal to produce high-brightness lasing at 1064nm. In addition, there are growing interest to use such high power 808nm lasers in the field of automotive infra-red (IR) illumination and medical aesthetic treatment. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have emerged as a promising candidate and attracted increased interests for those applications, due to their combined advantages of high efficiency, low diverging circular beam, narrow emission spectrum with reduced temperature sensitivity, low-cost manufacturability, simpler coupling optics, and increased reliability, especially at high temperatures. They can emit very high power with very high power density as they can be conveniently configured into large two-dimensional arrays and modules of arrays. We report recent development on such high-power, high-efficiency 808nm VCSELs with industrial leading ~55% power conversion efficiency (PCE). Top emitting VCSELs were grown by MOCVD and processed into single devices and 2D arrays using selective wet oxidation process and substrate removal technique for efficient current confinement and heat removal. Peak PCE of 51% and peak power of 800W were achieved from 5x5mm array, corresponding to peak power density of ~4kW/cm2. Pumped with new generation of 2.3kW VCSEL module, Q-switched laser pulse energy at 1064nm reached 46.9mJ, more than doubled from previously reported results.