Karl-Heinz Hasler

High-Brightness Quantum Well Tapered Lasers

High-power quantum well lasers with high brightness in the spectral range between 650 nm and 1080 nm will be presented. Improved layer structures with a narrow vertical far-field divergence down to angles of 15deg (full-width at half-maximum) were developed. For these layer structures, optimized tapered lasers were processed to achieve laterally a nearly diffraction-limited beam quality with beam propagation factors smaller than 2. Depending on the emission wavelength, the tapered devices reach an output power up to 12 W and a brightness of 1 GWmiddotcm-2middotsr-1.

1.5 W green light generation by single-pass second harmonic generation of a single-frequency tapered diode laser

More than 1.5 W of green light at 531 nm is generated by single-pass second harmonic generation in periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3. The pump laser is a high power tapered laser with a distributed Bragg reflector etched in the ridge section of the laser to provide wavelength selectivity. The output power of the single-frequency tapered laser is 9.3 W in continuous wave operation. A conversion efficiency of 18.5 % was achieved in the experiments.

Fundamental-Lateral Mode Stabilized High-Power Ridge-Waveguide Lasers With a Low Beam Divergence

We compare ridge-waveguide lasers with trench widths of 5 and 20 mum. The emission wavelength is around 1064 nm and the ridge width is 5 m. The maximum output power exceeds 2 W. The 5-mum trench-width device exhibits a much more stable lateral far-field. The full-width at half-maximum of the vertical far-field profile is only 15deg due to a super-large optical cavity.

Fourier domain mode-locked swept source at 1050 nm based on a tapered amplifier

While swept source optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the 1050 nm range is promising for retinal imaging, there are certain challenges. Conventional semiconductor gain media have limited output power, and the performance of high-speed Fourier domain mode-locked (FDML) lasers suffers from chromatic dispersion in standard optical fiber. We developed a novel light source with a tapered amplifier as gain medium, and investigated the FDML performance comparing two fiber delay lines with different dispersion properties. We introduced an additional gain element into the resonator, and thereby achieved stable FDML operation, exploiting the full bandwidth of the tapered amplifier despite high dispersion. The light source operates at a repetition rate of 116 kHz with an effective average output power in excess of 30 mW. With a total sweep range of 70 nm, we achieved an axial resolution of 15 microm in air (approximately 11 microm in tissue) in OCT measurements. As our work shows, tapered amplifiers are suitable gain media for swept sources at 1050 nm with increased output power, while high gain counteracts dispersion effects in an FDML laser.

Design and Simulation of Next-Generation High-Power, High-Brightness Laser Diodes

High-brightness laser diode technology is progressing rapidly in response to competitive and evolving markets. The large volume resonators required for high-power, high-brightness operation makes their beam parameters and brightness sensitive to thermal- and carrier-induced lensing and also to multimode operation. Power and beam quality are no longer the only concerns for the design of high-brightness lasers. The increased demand for these technologies is accompanied by new performance requirements, including a wider range of wavelengths, direct electrical modulation, spectral purity and stability, and phase-locking techniques for coherent beam combining. This paper explores some of the next-generation technologies being pursued, while illustrating the growing importance of simulation and design tools. The paper begins by investigating the brightness limitations of broad-area laser diodes, including the use of asymmetric feedback to improve the modal discrimination. Next, tapered lasers are considered, with an emphasis on emerging device technologies for applications requiring electrical modulation and high spectral brightness.

5-W DBR Tapered Lasers Emitting at 1060 nm With a Narrow Spectral Linewidth and a Nearly Diffraction-Limited Beam Quality

Distributed Bragg reflector tapered lasers emitting at a wavelength of about 1060 nm were realized. The expitaxial layer structure leads to a vertical far-field angle of 15deg (full-width at half-maximum). The devices with a total length of 4 mm consist of 2-mm-long ridge waveguide and tapered sections. The input currents to both sections can be independently controlled. The laser reached 5-W output power with a narrow spectral linewidth below 40 pm (95% power) and a nearly diffraction-limited beam quality.

Frequency-doubled DBR-tapered diode laser for direct pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers generating sub-20 fs pulses

For the first time a single-pass frequency doubled DBR-tapered diode laser suitable for pumping Ti:sapphire lasers generating ultrashort pulses is demonstrated. The maximum output powers achieved when pumping the Ti:sapphire laser are 110 mW (CW) and 82 mW (mode-locked) respectively at 1.2 W of pump power. This corresponds to a reduction in optical conversion efficiencies to 75% of the values achieved with a commercial diode pumped solid-state laser. However, the superior electro-optical efficiency of the diode laser improves the overall efficiency of the Ti:sapphire laser by a factor > 2. The optical spectrum emitted by the Ti:sapphire laser when pumped with our diode laser shows a spectral width of 112 nm (FWHM). Based on autocorrelation measurements, pulse widths of less than 20 fs can therefore be expected.

1060 nm DBR tapered lasers with 12 W output power and a nearly diffraction limited beam quality

High-brightness narrow line-width 1060 nm tapered lasers with an internal distributed Bragg reflector were realized. The devices reach a maximal output power of 12 W with a narrow spectral line-width below 40 pm (95% power). A nearly diffraction limited beam quality was measured up to a power of 10 W. The vertical structure is based on an InGaAs triple quantum well (TQW) active region embedded in a 4.8 μm broad AlGaAs super large optical cavity. This leads to a narrow vertical divergence of 15° (FWHM). Tapered devices were processed a total length of 6 mm consisting of 2 mm long ridge waveguide (including 1 mm DBR mirror) and 4 mm tapered sections. A full taper angle of 6° was manufactured. The input currents to both sections can be independently controlled. The devices had a conversion efficiency of about 50%. A first reliability test showed failure-free operation at 5 W without a deterioration of the beam quality and the spectral properties.

Efficient concept for generation of diffraction-limited green light by sum-frequency generation of spectrally combined tapered diode lasers.

In order to increase the power of visible diode laser systems in an efficient manner, we propose spectral beam combining with subsequent sum-frequency generation. We show that this approach, in comparison with second harmonic generation of single emitters, can enhance the available power significantly. By combining two distributed Bragg reflector tapered diode lasers we achieve a 2.5-3.2 fold increase in power and a maximum of 3.9 W of diffraction-limited green light. At this power level, green diode laser systems have a high application potential, e.g., within the biomedical field. Our concept can be expanded combining multiple diode lasers to increase the power even further.

16 W output power by high-efficient spectral beam combining of DBR-tapered diode lasers

Up to 16 W output power has been obtained using spectral beam combining of two 1063 nm DBR-tapered diode lasers. Using a reflecting volume Bragg grating, a combining efficiency as high as 93.7% is achieved, resulting in a single beam with high spatial coherence. The result represents the highest output power achieved by spectral beam combining of two single element tapered diode lasers. Since spectral beam combining does not affect beam propagation parameters, M2-values of 1.8 (fast axis) and 3.3 (slow axis) match the M2-values of the laser with lowest spatial coherence. The principle of spectral beam combining used in our experiments can be expanded to combine more than two tapered diode lasers and hence it is expected that the output power may be increased even further in the future.