Jo S. Major

High power, high reliability laser diodes

Results are presented on catastrophic damage limits and life-test measurements for four types of high-power laser diodes operating at wavelengths between 980 nm and 690 nm. The laser diodes under consideration are CW multimode lasers, CW laser bars, quasi-CW bars/2D stacked arrays, and single transverse mode lasers.

High-power high-efficiency antiguide laser arrays

Antiguide laser arrays have demonstrated near-diffraction-limited emission at CW power levels approaching 1 Watt under CW conditions, and up to approximately 10 Watts under short-pulse conditions. In this paper, the fundamental mode of operation is reviewed, and current high-power results are reported, including up to 32 Watts of peak power under short- pulse operations.

Future directions in 980-nm pump lasers: submarine deployment to low-cost watt-class terrestrial pumps

The demands of global bandwidth and distribution are rising rapidly as Internet usage grows. This fundamentally means that more photons are flowing within optical cables. While transmitting sources launches some optical power, the majority of the optical power that is present within modem telecommunication systems originates from optical amplifiers. In addition, modem optical amplifiers offer flat optical gain over broad wavelength bands, thus making possible dense wavelength de-multiplexing (DWDM) systems. Optical amplifier performance, and by extension the performance of the laser pumps that drive them, is central to the future growth of both optical transmission and distribution systems.

Semiconductor laser transmitters for WDM

WDM semiconductor sources are needed to fulfill the requirements of future high-speed, all- optical fiber networks. The key technical challenge is to meet at the same time all of the tight requirements on wavelength accuracy, stability over time, high-speed operation, simplicity of control electronics, and low cost that practical systems demands. State-of-the-art of WDM component technology is explored and the many available technological options are presented and compared.

Advances in high-power fiber-coupled laser diodes

We describe advances in the development of high-power diffraction-limited lasers for single- mode fiber-coupled sources. The development of the tapered amplifier has led to the realization of a monolithic MOPA diode laser, which provides up to 3 W cw of single-spatial- mode output power. We further describe the implementation of the MOPA in fiber-coupled architectures that provide up to 1.2 W cw coupled into a single-mode optical fiber and some of the optical considerations unique to devices based on tapered amplifiers.

Monolithic Semiconductor MOPAs: How the Watt Was Won

High power spatially coherent semiconductor lasers have been a goal of diode laser researchers for years. Single-stripe devices are generally limited to a hundred mW of output power, at which point reliability problems associated with the high optical intensity at the output facet begin to limit device performance. The simple solution to the problem of facet power density has been to increase the lateral dimension of the laser facet from 3–4 to hundreds of µm. However, this approach has simply traded one problem, facet degradation, for another: control of the spatial mode.

1.3-W cw diffraction-limited monolithically integrated master oscillator flared amplifier at 860 nm

A high-power monolithically integrated master oscillator flared power amplifier is demonstrated which operates at approximately 860 nm to an output power greater than 1.3 cw with a far field pattern consisting of a single, diffraction-limited lobe.

Types of diode lasers now available for use in optical data storage systems

The status of semiconductor lasers and laser arrays suitable for optical data storage applications is reviewed. Single mode optical powers as high as 200 mW CW are available at 830 nm, while wavelengths as low as 630 nm are commercially available at CW optical powers as high as 15 mW.

High-efficiency, high-output-power antiguide laser diode arrays

Antiguide laser arrays have been fabricated and operated up to peak pulsed powers of 7.7 W in a beam with a full-width at half-maximum in the main lobe of 0.7°. Up to 0.7 W of continuous wave power is emitted into a radiation pattern 2.5 times the diffraction limit. By varying the temperature of the array to vary the operating wavelength of the device, the threshold gain condition of the array modes is altered, allowing thermal tuning of the far field of the device.