9.5 W CW output power from high brightness 980 nm InGaAs/AlGaAs tapered laser arrays

Abstract

High power 980 nm InGaAs/AlGaAs lasers consisting of an array of closely-spaced tapered waveguides, giving low beam divergence and hence high brightness, have been fabricated. The lateral beam divergence is in the range 6–8° (full-width at 1/e2) for all output powers. The vertical beam divergence, which is defined by the layer structure, is 44° (full-width at 1/e2). CW output powers of 9.5 W and a catastrophic optical mirror damage limit in excess of 170 mW/µm-facet have been demonstrated.