Mark DeFranza

Diode Laser Efficiency Increases Enable > 400-W Peak Power From 1-cm Bars and Show Clear Path to Peak Powers in Excess of 1-kW

Peak optical power from single 1-cm diode laser bars is advancing rapidly across all commercial wavelengths. Progress in material performance is reviewed and we show that current trends imply there is no fundamental barrier to achieving peak powers of 1-kW per 1-cm diode laser bar. For bars with such high peak powers, commercially available reliable devices would be expected to deliver ~ 300-W per bar. Progress to date has allowed us to demonstrate > 400-W peak output from single 1-cm diode laser bars at emission wavelengths from 800-nm to 980-nm. The available range of emission wavelengths has also been increased, with 90-W bars shown at 660-nm and 24W at 1900-nm, complementing the 100-W bar previously demonstrated at 1470-nm. Peak power is seen to correlate closely peak efficiency. Further advances in diode laser efficiency and low thermal resistance packaging technology continue to drive these powers higher. The most critical improvements have been the reduction in the diode laser operating voltage through optimization of hetero-barriers (leading to 73% efficient 100-W bars on copper micro-channel) and a reduction in packaging thermal resistance by optimizing micro-channel performance (leading to < 0.2-oC/W thermal resistance).

A CTE matched, hard solder, passively cooled laser diode package combined with nXLT facet passivation enables high power, high reliability operation

A conductively cooled laser diode package design with hard AuSn solder and CTE matched sub mount is presented. We discuss how this platform eliminates the failure mechanisms associated with indium solder. We present the problem of catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD) and show that nLights nXLTTM facet passivation technology effectively eliminates facet defect initiated COMD as a failure mechanism for both single emitter and bar format laser diodes. By combining these technologies we have developed a product that has high reliability at high powers, even at increased operation temperatures. We present early results from on-going accelerated life testing of this configuration that suggests an 808nm, 30% fill factor device will have a MTTF of more than 21khrs at 60W CW, 25°C operating conditions and a MTTF of more than 6.4khrs when operated under hard pulsed (1 second on, 1 second off) conditions.

Extending the wavelength range of single-emitter diode lasers for medical and sensing applications: 12xx-nm quantum dots, 2000-nm wells, > 5000-nm cascade lasers

Diode lasers supply high power densities at wavelengths from 635-nm to 2000-nm, with different applications enabled by providing this power at different wavelengths. As the range of available wavelengths broadens, many novel medical and atmospheric applications are enabled. Traditional quantum well lasers provide high performance in the range 635- nm to 1100-nm range for GaAs-based devices and 1280-nm to 2000-nm for InP, leaving a notable gap in the 1100 to 1280-nm range. There are many important medical and sensing applications in this range and quantum dots produced using Stranski-Krastanow self-organized MBE growth on GaAs substrates provide an alternative high performance solution. We present results confirming broad area quantum dot lasers can deliver high optical powers of 16-W per emitter and high power conversion efficiency of 35% in this wavelength range. In addition, there are growing applications for high power sources in wavelengths > 1500-nm. We present a brief review of our current performance status in this wavelength range, both with conventional quantum wells in the 1500-nm to 2500-nm range and MOCVD grown quantum cascade lasers for wavelengths > 4000-nm. At each wavelength, we review the designs that deliver this performance, prospects for increased performance and the potential for further broadening the availability of novel wavelengths for high power applications.

Diode laser bars deliver > 400-W peak CW power from 800-nm to 980-nm enabling wide range of applications

Peak optical power from single 1-cm diode laser bars is advancing rapidly across all commercial wavelengths. Progress to date has allowed us to demonstrate > 400-W peak output from single 1-cm diode laser bars at emission wavelengths from 800-nm to 980-nm. The available range of emission wavelengths has also been increased, with 90-W bars shown at 660-nm, 37W at 1910-nm and 25W at 2070-nm, complementing the 100-W bar previously demonstrated at 1470-nm. Peak power is seen to correlate closely peak power conversion efficiency. Further advances in diode laser efficiency and low thermal resistance packaging technology continue to drive these powers higher. The most critical improvements have been the reduction in the diode laser operating voltage through optimization of hetero-barriers (leading to 74% efficient 100-W bars on micro-channel at 975-nm) and a reduction in packaging thermal resistance by optimizing microchannel performance (leading to < 0.2-°C/W thermal resistance). We have also recently extended our high efficiency designs to shorter wavelengths, now delivering over 70% efficiency at 790-nm. Ever-increasing power levels (projected to eventually exceed 1-kW per bar) reduce the cost in Euro per W of diode laser systems, enabling broader application in military, industrial and medical markets. In addition, increasing availability of high powers at new wavelengths is enabling many new applications.

Mitigation of Voltage Defect for High-Efficiency InP Diode Lasers Operating at Cryogenic Temperatures

The power conversion efficiency of cryogenically cooled InP-based diode lasers is limited by excess electrical voltage caused by the freeze-out of holes at low temperature. Hall-effect measurements are performed to determine the ionization energy of Zn in bulk InP and In0.90Ga0.10As0.24P0.76 (the values obtained are 18.6 and 11.6 meV, respectively). A laser design with an InGaAsP p-cladding layer shows a large decrease in the 77 K voltage defect relative to a more traditional InP design. Peak conversion efficiency of 73% and >10-W maximum power are reported at 1493 nm from a single 200-μm stripe laser operating at 77 K.

High-efficiency kW-class QCW 88x-nm diode semiconductor laser bars with passive cooling

We present our recent efforts to improve power rating, efficiency, reliability, and cost of diode laser bars in the 88x nm wavelength band. QCW kW-class diode laser bars are grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and are cleaved, passivated, coated, and die bonded onto either standard copper CS-style heat sinks using indium solder, or onto expansion matched CuW CS heat sinks using AuSn solder. In an effort to realize high power operation, the high efficiency 880-nm epitaxial design has been optimized. Bars of varying fill factors, cavity lengths, and facet coating reflectivities are explored to improve the rated electrical to optical (E-O) efficiency up to approximately 70% under low duty cycle QCW operations. The enhanced E-O efficiency makes possible not only the passive cooling of the devices, but also reliable operation in the kW power range. We demonstrate that the semiconductor laser bars can survive over 100 million laser shots working in QCW mode. It is expected that the development of these passively cooled, highly efficient and highly reliable QCW kW-class diode laser bars will enable commercial applications.

1500-nm InP diode lasers optimized for use at 77K demonstrate 73% conversion efficiency

The power conversion efficiency of cryogenically-cooled InP diode lasers is limited by excess electrical voltage caused by carrier freeze-out. A laser design which specifically mitigates this effect demonstrates peak efficiency of 73% at 77 K.

Highly reliable high-efficiency wavelength-stabilized 885 nm diode laser bars

We report on the progress of highly-reliable, high-efficiency 885-nm diode laser bar arrays. Conduction-cooled hardsoldered bars rated to 60W and 57% conversion efficiency demonstrate >30,000 device hours under 1-sec on, 1-sec off hard pulse conditions failure-free. Microchannel-cooled bars rated to 100W and 62% efficiency demonstrate >100,000 accelerated device hours failure-free. Integrated volume Bragg grating fast axis lenses provide wavelength stabilization at low cost. Vertically stacked arrays (seven bars each) of such configuration are demonstrated with a 0.8 nm FWHM spectral width and rated to 700W, 53% conversion efficiency.

Mode Control for High Performance Laser Diode Sources

We report on recent progress in the control of optical modes toward the improvement of commercial high-performance diode laser modules. Control of the transverse mode has allowed scaling of the optical mode volume, increasing the peak output power of diode laser emitters by a factor of two. Commercially-available single emitter diodes operating at 885 nm now exhibit >25 W peak (12 W rated) at >60% conversion efficiency. In microchannel-cooled bar format, these lasers operate >120 W at 62% conversion efficiency. Designs of similar performance operating at 976 nm have shown >37,000 equivalent device hours with no failures. Advances in the control of lateral modes have enabled unprecedented brightness scaling in a fiber-coupled package format. Leveraging scalable arrays of single emitters, the conductively-cooled nLIGHT PearlTM package now delivers >80 W peak (50 W rated) at >53% conversion efficiency measured from a 200-μm core fiber output and >45 W peak (35 W rated) at >52% conversion efficiency measured from a 100-μm fiber output. nLIGHT has also expanded its product portfolio to include wavelength locking by means of external volume Bragg gratings. By controlling the longitudinal modes of the laser, this technique is demonstrated to produce a narrow, temperature-stabilized spectrum, with minimal performance degradation relative to similar free-running lasers.

> 76% CW wall-plug efficiency at high powers from 0.98-µM emitting laser diodes sheds shows route to 1kW CW diode laser bar

Through careful optimization of electrical and optical characteristics, broad area laser diodes deliver wall-plug in excess of 76% and powers in excess of 100W across the 9xx-nm band. Cryogenic testing of single emitter devices delivers peak efficiency of 85%, confirming there is no fundamental physical limit to reaching extremely high device efficiency. Further optimization and more radical structures show a clear path to efficiencies in excess of 80% even at room temperature.Combining a high efficiency bar with an optimized heat-sink shows the potential for reaching peak CW powers in excess of 1-kW per single 1-cm diode bar. These power levels are comparable to more conventional CO2 lasers, with the potential to be available at significantly lower prices.Through careful optimization of electrical and optical characteristics, broad area laser diodes deliver wall-plug in excess of 76% and powers in excess of 100W across the 9xx-nm band. Cryogenic testing of single emitter devices delivers peak efficiency of 85%, confirming there is no fundamental physical limit to reaching extremely high device efficiency. Further optimization and more radical structures show a clear path to efficiencies in excess of 80% even at room temperature.Combining a high efficiency bar with an optimized heat-sink shows the potential for reaching peak CW powers in excess of 1-kW per single 1-cm diode bar. These power levels are comparable to more conventional CO2 lasers, with the potential to be available at significantly lower prices.