Emitted beam stabilization in junction plane by lateral periodic structure in laser diodes emitting at 980 nm

Abstract

In this paper the possibility of improvement of emitted beam quality of high-power laser diodes by stabilization of an optical field distribution in the junction plane, forced by lateral periodicity built into their wide-stripe waveguide is described. Current flow control by such periodic structure prevents the lateral current crowding, carrier accumulation at the stripe edges and optical far-field blooming typical for conventional wide-stripe laser diodes. As a result, stabilization of the lateral emitted beam divergence in wide drive current range of CW operation has been evidenced.