Low saturation fluence antiresonant quantum dot SESAMs for MIXSEL integration

Aude-Reine Bellancourt,Ursula Keller,Deran J H C Maas,Matthias Golling,Martin Hoffmann,Yohan Barbarin,Mohammad Shafiei,Thomas Südmeyer

doi:10.1364/oe.17.009704

Aude-Reine Bellancourt, Ursula Keller + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.17.009704

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Journal: Optics Express	Publication Date: May 26, 2009
Citations: 25	License type: cc-by

Abstract

Quantum dot (QD) semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) offer a larger design freedom than standard quantum well (QW) SESAMs. QD density, QD growth conditions, number of QD-layers, and post-growth annealing were optimized to independently reduce the saturation fluence and adjust the modulation depth for an antiresonant SESAM that supported for the first time passive modelocking of a vertical external-cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) with the same spot size on gain and absorber. The same spot size is a requirement for the modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL) concept which enables wafer-scale fabrication of the ultrafast semiconductor laser. The antiresonant SESAM design has low dispersion, is less susceptible to growth errors, and is therefore very promising for short pulse generation and MIXSEL integration.

Highlights

Introduction and motivationVertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) combine the benefits from diode-pumped solid state and semiconductor laser technologies with wavelength flexibility, high power and excellent beam quality
We demonstrated that semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) and VECSEL gain structure can be integrated into a single semiconductor structure (Figure 1a), which is referred to as modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL, [1])
We demonstrate for the first time that an antiresonant SESAM can modelock a VECSEL with similar spot size on gain and saturable absorber

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and motivationVertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) combine the benefits from diode-pumped solid state and semiconductor laser technologies with wavelength flexibility, high power and excellent beam quality. Ultrafast VECSELs required a folded cavity with a separate semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) for passive modelocking. We demonstrated that SESAM and VECSEL gain structure can be integrated into a single semiconductor structure (Figure 1a), which is referred to as modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL, [1]).

Results

Conclusion