Investigating a Hypothetical Semiconductor Laser Bar with a Damaged Single Emitter Using a Laser Diode Simulation/Emulation Tool

C.K Amuzuvi,J.C Attachie

doi:10.19026/rjaset.7.437

Abstract

This study demonstrates the use of Barlase, a semiconductor laser diode emulation tool, to emulate the by-emitter degradation of high power semiconductor laser diodes. Barlase is software that uses a LabView control interface. In this study, a hypothetical laser diode bar (multiple emitters) was used to investigate a damaged single emitter randomly located in the bar and its behavior analyzed within the bar. It should however, be noted that, this scenario is valid for devices at the start of the aging process only. When all other relevant effects that affect the performance of laser diodes bars are allowed to interact over time, high levels of defects can also play important role in the degradation process. The results of this simulation scenario show the successful implementation of Barlase in the by-emitter analysis of laser diodes.

Highlights

Due to several applications emerging in the use of high-power laser bars (Steel, 2008), there is a greater demand on their improved reliability and durability
The objective of this study is to investigate and analyze various scenarios of defects in the operation of a laser bar, especially if there is a localized defect like a defective emitter within the bar
In Amuzuvi and Attachie (2013), Barlase was used to investigate a practical scenario, where a laser bar has a random low-level of defects distributed across the bar

Summary

Introduction

Due to several applications emerging in the use of high-power laser bars (Steel, 2008), there is a greater demand on their improved reliability and durability. Apart from their traditional applications such as pumping solid-state lasers, material processing (Schulz and Poprawe, 2000), printing, medicine and entertainment; they have found other uses in the light detection and ranging and free space optical communications (Chazan et al, 1998). The objective of this study is to investigate and analyze various scenarios of defects in the operation of a laser bar, especially if there is a localized defect like a defective emitter within the bar

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion