Broad-area Laser Research Articles

High-power semiconductor laser with a narrow linewidth based on transverse photonic crystal

Broad-area lasers (BA) are practical for producing high output power. However, under a high current operation, high-order modes are easily excited, resulting in the broadened linewidth. Here, based on mode engineering of double-side transverse photonic crystals (TPCs) combined with a longitudinal high-order surface grating, a narrow-linewidth electrically-pumped broad-area laser with high power emission only using I-line lithography is demonstrated. By matching the high-order modes of the wide main waveguide with TPC bands, the effective volume of the high-order modes is expanded, while the fundamental mode remains unchanged. Then, single-lateral mode operation is achieved by selective pumping only for the main waveguide due to the significant distinction in modal gain between the fundamental mode and the high-order modes. In addition, a 27-order grating is constructed above the main waveguide to keep the laser operating in single-longitudinal mode. In the experiment, the device shows an output power of 115 mW, a lasing wavelength of 1552.94 nm with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 59.26 dB, a narrow linewidth of 443 kHz, and a relative intensity noise (RIN) < -135 dB/Hz at 600 mA, thus has the potential to meet the needs in fields such as coherent optical communication and LiDAR.

Bose–Einstein condensation of photons in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

Many bosons can occupy a single quantum state without a limit. It is described by the quantum-mechanical Bose–Einstein statistic, which allows Bose–Einstein condensation at low temperatures and high particle densities. Photons, historically the first considered bosonic gas, were late to show this phenomenon, observed in rhodamine-filled microcavities and doped fibre cavities. These findings have raised the question of whether condensation is also common in other laser systems with potential technological applications. Here we show the Bose–Einstein condensation of photons in a broad-area vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with a slight cavity-gain spectral detuning. We observed a Bose–Einstein condensate in the fundamental transversal optical mode at a critical phase-space density. The experimental results follow the equation of state for a two-dimensional gas of bosons in thermal equilibrium, although the extracted spectral temperatures were lower than the device’s. This is interpreted as originating from the driven-dissipative nature of the photon gas. In contrast, non-equilibrium lasing action is observed in the higher-order modes in more negatively detuned device. Our work opens the way for the potential exploration of superfluid physics of interacting photons mediated by semiconductor optical nonlinearities. It also shows great promise for enabling single-mode high-power emission from a large-aperture device.

Continuous wave operation of broad area and ridge waveguide laser diodes at 626 nm

AbstractThe authors present continuous wave (CW) high‐power broad area and ridge waveguide lasers with laser emission at 626 nm at room temperature. For this, the authors employ GaAs‐based diode lasers in the AlGaInP system for laser emission at 626 nm at room temperature. The laser structure is grown on three‐inch wafers by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. Broad area and ridge waveguide lasers are fabricated. Pulsed broad area laser characterisation on bar level shows laser operation at 20 C heat sink temperature. The authors measured peak lasing wavelengths as short as 625 nm and total maximum output power of both facets up to 1.4 W at an injection current of 2 A. Both, broad area and ridge waveguide lasers show laser operation and CW excitation at room temperature. The ridge waveguide lasers emit output powers of over 90 mW at 626 nm at a maximum injection current of 200 mA with a nearly diffraction‐limited beam profile.

5.0 μm emitting interband cascade lasers with superlattice and bulk AlGaAsSb claddings

We present a comparison between interband cascade lasers (ICLs) with a six-stage active region emitting at 5 μm with AlSb/InAs superlattice claddings and with bulk Al0.85Ga0.15As0.07Sb0.93 claddings. Utilizing bulk AlGaAsSb claddings with their lower refractive index compared to the more commonly used AlSb/InAs superlattice claddings, the mode-confinement in the active region increases by 14.4% resulting in an improvement of the lasing threshold current density. For broad area laser and under pulsed excitation, the ICL with AlGaAsSb claddings shows a lower threshold current density of Jth=396A/cm2 compared to Jth=521A/cm2 of the ICL with superlattice claddings. Additionally, a higher characteristic temperature was obtained for the ICL with bulk claddings. Emission in pulsed operation is observed up to 65 °C.

Adjoint Algorithm Design of Selective Mode Reflecting Metastructure for BAL Applications.

Broad-area lasers (BALs) have found applications in a variety of crucial fields on account of their high output power and high energy transfer efficiency. However, they suffer from poor spatial beam quality due to multi-mode behavior along the waveguide transverse direction. In this paper, we propose a novel metasurface waveguide structure acting as a transverse mode selective back-reflector for BALs. In order to effectively inverse design such a structure, a digital adjoint algorithm is introduced to adapt the considerably large design area and the high degree of freedom. As a proof of the concept, a device structure with a design area of 40 × 20 μm2 is investigated. The simulation results exhibit high fundamental mode reflection (above 90%), while higher-order transverse mode reflections are suppressed below 0.2%. This is, to our knowledge, the largest device structure designed based on the inverse method. We exploited such a device and the method and further investigated the device's robustness and feasibility of the inverse method. The results are elaborately discussed.

High-efficiency and high-brightness broad area laser diodes with buried implantation current blocking

Buried-regrown-implant-structure (BRIS) technology combines two-step epitaxial regrowth with an intermediate ion implantation step in order to realise a buried current aperture close to the active region of a laser diode. In this paper we carry out a systematic performance comparison demonstrating the benefit of BRIS technology in single emitter broad-area lasers (BALs). We investigate stripe width W = 100 μ m and resonator length L = 4 mm single emitter lasers emitting at wavelength λ = 915 nm, comparing the performance of BRIS devices with different implantation depths with reference devices with only contact layer implantation. We show that using BRIS technology we achieve a continuous wave output power of 20 W at 57% efficiency, with a peak efficiency of 68%, and maintain a lateral brightness of 3.4 mm · mrad up to 19 W, improved over the reference devices due to reduced lateral current spreading in the BRIS devices. Further, we show results of ongoing aging experiments, which has shown no device degradation up to 5000 hours from BRIS devices.

Precise mode control of mid-infrared high-power laser diodes using on-chip advanced sawtooth waveguide designs

Abstract Power scaling in conventional broad-area (BA) lasers often leads to the operation of higher-order lateral modes, resulting in a multiple-lobe far-field profile with large divergence. Here, we report an advanced sawtooth waveguide (ASW) structure integrated onto a wide ridge waveguide. It strategically enhances the loss difference between higher-order modes and the fundamental mode, thereby facilitating high-power narrow-beam emission. Both optical simulations and experimental results illustrate the significant increase in additional scattering loss of the higher-order modes. The optimized ASW lasers achieve an impressive output power of 1.1 W at 4.6 A at room temperature, accompanied by a minimal full width at half maximum lateral divergence angle of 4.91°. Notably, the far-field divergence is reduced from 19.61° to 11.39° at the saturation current, showcasing a remarkable 42% improvement compared to conventional BA lasers. Moreover, the current dependence of divergence has been effectively improved by 38%, further confirming the consistent and effective lateral mode control capability offered by our design.

Distributed feedback broad area lasers with multiple epitaxially stacked active regions and tunnel junctions

Distributed feedback (DFB) broad area (BA) lasers with multiple epitaxially stacked active regions and tunnel junctions designed for emission around 900 nm are investigated. DFB BA lasers with a cavity length of 1 mm and different stripe widths are compared in terms of their electro-optical performance and beam quality. The laser with a 200 µm stripe width achieved a high optical pulse power of 100 W in 10 ns long pulses at an injection current of 63 A, resulting in a brightness of 81 MW/cm2sr. The optical spectrum of both lasers is centered at around 886 nm, exhibiting a narrow spectral bandwidth of 0.2 nm (64 pm/K).

Pixels and resonators with blazed Littrow structures: Passive and non-Hermitian approaches

The confinement of light by Littrow blazed grating structures is explored for targeted device operation principles. For passive devices, these grating structures are explored in one and two-dimensional versions to study resonant pixel with sizes of about ten grating periods (for 4.5 μm-side), which retain a CMOS compatible design. The resonances are found to substantially enhance the weak silicon absorption at 940 nm, a wavelength of interest for, e.g., distance ranging and face recognition, and to achieve a 7.5° angular tolerance. The addition of gain and loss in generic Littrow structures that display an original dispersion made of crossing manifold is next considered, with a view to the issue of broad-area laser modal control.

Influence of weak injection on spatiotemporal instabilities in a broad-area vertical-cavity semiconductor laser

The dynamics of a broad-area vertical-cavity semiconductor surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is theoretically investigated with due regard for the Henry factor. A linear analysis of the stability of a spatially homogeneous lasing regime is performed and the modulation instability is shown to develop in such lasers. The minimum size of the aperture at which the instability of the optical field begins to develop is determined. The results are confirmed by the numerical solution of a system of differential equations. It is shown that the suppression of the modulation instability can be achieved by injecting into the resonator an external low-amplitude optical radiation.

High-energy picosecond pulses with a single spatial mode from a passively mode-locked, broad-area semiconductor laser

We present a mode-locked semiconductor laser oscillator that emits few picosecond pulses (5-8ps at a repetition rate of 379MHz and wavelength of 1064nm) with record peak power (112W) and pulse energy (0.5nJ) directly out of the oscillator (with no amplifier). To achieve this high power performance we employ a high-current broad-area, spatially multi-mode diode amplifier (0.3×5mm), placed in an external cavity that enforces oscillation in a single spatial mode. Consequently, the brightness of the beam is near-ideal (M2 = 1.3). Mode locking is achieved by dividing the large diode chip (edge emitter) into two sections with independent electrical control: one large section for gain and another small section for a saturable absorber. Precise tuning of the reverse voltage on the absorber section allows to tune the saturation level and recovery time of the absorber, providing a convenient knob to optimize the mode-locking performance for various cavity conditions.

Ultra-stable and low-divergence high-power antimonide light emitters with on-chip mode filter

Antimonide semiconductor laser diodes with high brightness are ideal light sources for a variety of applications. However, the traditional structure of broad-area (BA) lasers with high-power output is normally accompanied by a multi-lobed far field profile and large lateral divergence. In this paper, we put up an on-chip microstructure for mode filtering. The excellent mode control capability is doubly confirmed by optical field simulations and complete device measurements. The optimized device shows an enhanced continuous-wave output power in exceeding of 1.3 W at room temperature, along with a reduced threshold current and increased peak power conversion efficiency. Moreover, it exhibits an ultra-stable lateral far field with a 45.6% reduction in divergence and a notable 75.5% improvement in current dependence compared with conventional BA diode lasers. The minimum divergence is as low as 5.64° for full width at half maximum definition.

InP-based quantum dot lasers emitting at 1.3 µm

In this paper, we report on InP-based quantum dot (QD) lasers with InAs QDs emitting at the telecom O-band. A molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) based novel growth technique was implemented by using strained islands allowing the formation of smaller QDs by still keeping a high QD density. The laser structure is lattice matched to InP except for the active region. The active layer consists of a few monolayers (ML) thick InAs QDs which were grown on a thin GaAs nucleation layer, which enables tuning the size of the QDs. The impact of different nucleation layer structures and of the InAs growth rate on the QD formation process was investigated, with results indicating that the surface roughness of the nucleation layer and the availability of nucleation sites strongly influence adatom diffusion and the resulting QD size and uniformity. Broad area lasers were processed and exhibited a high modal gain of 78 cm−1 for 6 QD layers and an internal quantum efficiency of 0.68 for the laser treated with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 680 °C. A further improvement in laser performance was obtained at an elevated annealing temperature of 766 °C.

Temperature-independent lasing wavelength of highly stacked InAs quantum dot laser fabricated on InP(311)B substrate with Bi irradiation.

In this study, the effects of bismuth (Bi) irradiation on InAs quantum dot (QD) lasers operating in the telecommunication wavelength band were investigated. Highly stacked InAs QDs were grown on an InP(311)B substrate under Bi irradiation, and a broad-area laser was fabricated. In the lasing operation, the threshold currents were almost the same, regardless of Bi irradiation at room temperature. These QD lasers were operated at temperatures between 20 and 75°C, indicating the possibility of high-temperature operation. In addition, the temperature dependence of the oscillation wavelength changed from 0.531 nm/K to 0.168 nm/K using Bi in the temperature range 20-75°C.

Carrier density non-pinning at stripe edges and widened lateral far field due to longitudinal temperature variation in broad-area high power diode lasers

Broad area lasers operating at high power with improved beam quality are needed in many applications. In typical high-power diode lasers with asymmetric facet coating, it is observed that the carrier density fails to completely pin above threshold with significant levels of lateral carrier accumulation (LCA) at the front facet stripe edges. Systematic experimental data are presented to quantify such non-pinning and its effect on lateral far field in multiple diode lasers with varying longitudinal temperature variation (LTV) using spontaneous emission imaging. LTV is quantified and correlated with the carrier accumulation and its dependence on facet reflectivity and cavity length. Results of measurements under continuous wave (CW) and quasi-CW conditions are used to regulate the level of heating and, hence, to isolate the contribution of LTV and optical field profile. Conventional long resonator asymmetric-coated devices show a twofold increase in LCA from threshold to 10 A current at the front stripe edge, but LCA varies less than 20% for lower facet asymmetry or short resonators. Similarly, strong temperature driven far field broadening is observed for conventional long-resonator asymmetric-coated devices (3°–4° variation with temperature at 10 A), which is strongly reduced for lower facet asymmetry or short resonators (<1° at 10 A).

Optical Loss in Microdisk Lasers With Dense Quantum Dot Arrays

We discuss the origin of optical losses in microdisk lasers with a dense array of InGaAs quantum dots in the active region. In particular, we study the effect of microlaser diameter <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathbf {D}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> variation from 15 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$200~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> on optical losses of different nature. A strong dependence of the lasing wavelength on the diameter is observed: the blue-shift with decreasing disk size implies an increase in optical losses, although in the case of an ideal cylinder, a noticeable optical loss should appear only at diameters comparable to the wavelength of light. A comparison of the spectral characteristics of microlasers with those of broad-area stripe lasers, for which optical loss can be easily found, gives a tool to evaluate optical loss in microdisk lasers, which was found to be unexpectedly high. It changes <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol {\propto }\mathbf {D}^{\mathbf {-1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sim 100$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm−1 in the smallest microlasers to ~ 5 cm−1 in the largest ones. Several possible physical mechanisms of the appearance of optical losses in microlasers are considered, such as radiative loss due to the curvature of the cylindrical cavity, free carrier absorption, light scattering due to roughness of the side walls, and absorption of light in the near-surface region. The latter type of optical loss was found to be the dominant one and can explain the experimental results once the absorbing layer with a thickness of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> was suggested. Using the Gaussian approximation for Using the Gaussian approximation for the gain spectrum, the wavelength-loss relationship was simulated and a good agreement with the experimental dependence was found. The variation of the experimental results on optical loss for nominally identical microlasers was attributed to the variation of the scattering loss. The same reason can explain the scatter of the slope efficiency, which varies from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sim ~0.03$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to 0.25 W/A being governed by the ratio of the scattering loss to the surface absorption loss.

Transverse Photonic Crystal Mode Engineering for Broad-Area Semiconductor Lasers With Narrow-Divergence Angles

Broad-area semiconductor lasers, coupled with asymmetric transverse photonic crystals (TPCs), are designed by the effective index method and the transfer matrix method. Due to the propagation constant of the fundamental mode lying in the forbidden band of the TPCs, but those of the high-order modes lying in the allowed band of the TPCs, the fundamental mode is mainly concentrated in the active ridge waveguide, while all the high-order modes extend into the lossy TPCs on both sides of the active ridge waveguide. Therefore, the fundamental mode possesses larger optical confinement factor than those of the high-order modes, and reaches the lasing threshold more easily, which is demonstrated by the single-lobe horizontal far-field pattern of the TPC broad-area laser under an injection current of 0.3 A near the threshold. The proposed TPC broad-area laser provides a new strategy of designing broad-area semiconductor lasers with narrow divergence angles.

Improving the performance of high-power broad-area lasers by suppressing cavity modes propagating in the lateral dimension

Improving the performance of high-power broad-area lasers by suppressing cavity modes propagating in the lateral dimension

Growth of compressively strained GaxIn1−xAsyP1−y quantum wells for 690–730 nm laser emission

AlxGa1−xAs-based lasers are typically used for emission wavelengths of 730 nm and above, e.g. using GaAsyP1−y quantum wells (QW), while lasers emitting below 700 nm rely on (AlxGa1−x)0.5In0.5P in combination with GaxIn1−xP quantum wells. The 690 nm to 730 nm spectral range could basically be addressed from both ends, but this is practically limited by the tensile (GaAsyP1−y) and compressive (GaxIn1−xP) strains necessary to reach this spectral range. In this work we report on our efforts in growing GaxIn1−xAsyP1−y for emission around 700 nm. As this quaternary material is prone to phase separation, we first studied the growth of lattice matched bulk layers. We show that phase separation is kinetically triggered and can be avoided by staying below a critical thickness. Compressively strained GaxIn1−xAsyP1−y QWs can be grown if strain is kept below a critical value. The quantum well strain, which drives kinetic phase separation, is adjusted by a combination of X-ray diffraction and electroluminescence evaluated by modelling of the transition energies. Finally, we present LIV characteristics of uncoated edge-emitting broad area lasers (100 × 1000 µm2) reaching output powers up to P = 900mW at I = 2A for emission wavelengths ranging from 690 to 726 nm.

Complex nonlinear dynamics of polarization and transverse modes in a broad-area VCSEL

Lasers can exhibit nonlinear and chaotic dynamics driven by the interaction of multiple lasing modes, and investigating the different scenarios of mode competition and bifurcations of their dynamics is of great interest on a fundamental level as well as in view of applications. We study the dynamics of a broad-area vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) in solitary continuous-wave operation with a comprehensive investigation of its polarization state, lasing spectra, near-field distributions, and temporal dynamics. Fluctuations at the frequency of birefringence splitting and other frequency components develop in a series of bifurcations. The bifurcations coincide with changes of the transverse lasing modes and/or the polarization state, demonstrating the importance of both the spatial and polarization degrees of freedom for mode competition. As a consequence, the inherent nonlinear dynamics of broad-area VCSELs is significantly more complex than the dynamics of VCSELs with a single spatial mode.