High-brightness Laser Research Articles

High efficiency high brightness spectral beam combination based on an ultra-broad area laser diode stack

We demonstrate what we believe to be for the first time a high efficiency, high brightness laser source by external cavity spectral beam combination (SBC) in the fast axis based on the 1000 µm ultra-broad area laser diode (UBALD). Regarding the slow axis beam quality of UBALD, we propose a feedback model of the slow axis angle energy distribution in the oscillation process. By adding a structure with a filtering effect in the external cavity, both theory and experiment show that the beam quality of the slow axis can be effectively improved. With a 25-emitter UBALD stack, an SBC maximum CW output power reaches up to 730.6 W with an electro-optical efficiency of 63.7%. The SBC spectrum consists of 25 discrete peaks with a central wavelength of ∼967 nm and an overall spectrum width of 27.2 nm. The beam quality M2 values along the fast and slow axes are measured to be 5.2 and 22.8 at an output power of 623.4 W, corresponding to a brightness as high as 562.3 MW/(cm2•sr).

Phosphor-in-glass film on transparent diamond: an emerging new-generation color converter for high-brightness laser lighting

Phosphor-in-glass film on transparent diamond: an emerging new-generation color converter for high-brightness laser lighting

Whispering Gallery Mode Micro/Nanolasers for Intracellular Probing at Single Cell Resolution.

Intracellular probing at single cell resolution is key to revealing the heterogeneity of cells, learning new cell subtypes and functions, understanding the pathophysiology of disease, and ensuring precise diagnosis and treatment. Despite the best efforts, an enormous challenge remains due to the very small size, extremely low content, and dynamic microenvironment of a single cell. Whispering gallery mode (WGM) micro/nanolasers (active WGM) offer unique advantages of small mode volume, high quality factors, bright and low threshold laser emission, and narrow line width, particularly suitable for integration within a single cell. In this review, we provide a focused overview of WGM micro/nanolasers for intracellular probing. We deliver information on WGM micro/nanolaser concepts, sensing mechanism, and biocompatibility, as well as recent progress in intracellular probing applications mainly covering cellular-level sensing, molecular-level detection, and feasibility for cellular imaging. At the end, challenges and prospects of WGM micro/nanolasers for intracellular applications are discussed.

Phase-locked high-brightness interband cascade laser array with multimode interferometer couplers.

We report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of an interband cascade laser (ICL) array incorporating multimode interference (MMI) couplers for phase-locking emitters. The ICL array, emitting at 3-4 µm, was developed to address the challenges of heat dissipation and in-phase operation in mid-infrared lasers. The array features a 7.5-µm-wide ridge design for fundamental transverse mode propagation and employs MMI structures to realize an in-phase operation of multiple emitters. The far-field patterns, characterized by periodic and symmetrical interference fringes, confirm the coherent operation of the array and the efficacy of MMI couplers in achieving phase-locking. The single-ridge side of the array exhibits a single-lobe far-field profile, with higher-order transverse modes effectively suppressed, showcasing a nearly diffraction-limited beam quality (M2 ≈ 1.31) at high output powers (390 mW from the 1 × 4 array). The robust performance and scalable design of the ICL array, validated by experimental results and theoretical simulations, indicate its potential for high-power mid-infrared applications and as an optical phased array.

Heat dissipation enhancement of PiGF converter with vapor chamber radiator for high-brightness laser lighting

Laser illumination is widely believed to have great development potential in high-brightness lighting and display. In order to realize high-power laser illumination, an efficient heat dissipation method was proposed for phosphor-in-glass film (PiGF) color converter. The heat dissipation of PiGF converter was enhanced by the vapor chamber radiator (VC). The VC-PiGF converter demonstrates great optical-thermal performances due to its excellent heat dissipation capability. The maximum luminous flux of VC-PiGF converter (3699.3 lm) is 38.2 % higher than that of traditional fin-PiGF converter (2677.1 lm). The VC-PiGF converter has higher laser power saturation threshold (maximum 34.51 W) than the fin-PiGF converter (maximum 29.12 W). As the laser power is 24.82 W, the operating temperature of VC-PiGF converter (128 °C) is 41.8 % lower than that of fin-PiGF (220 °C). In addition, the VC-PiGF converter exhibits stable optical performances and a low surface temperature with the continuous excitation of 15.78 W for 60 min. The VC-PiGF converter packaged in a lighting module has an excellent outdoor test result. The efficient heat dissipation method with high reliability has great application prospects in high-brightness laser lighting.

Mitigation of the microbunching instability through transverse Landau damping

The microbunching instability has been a long-standing issue for high-brightness free-electron lasers (FELs) and is a significant showstopper to achieve full longitudinal coherence in the x-ray regime. This paper reports the first experimental demonstration of microbunching instability mitigation through transverse Landau damping, based on linear optics control in a dispersive region. Analytical predictions for the microbunching content are supported by numerical calculations of the instability gain. The effect is confirmed through the experimental characterization of the spectral brightness of the FERMI FEL under different transverse optics configurations of the transfer line between the linear accelerator and the FEL. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

A Novel PiGF@Diamond Color Converter with a Record Thermal Conductivity for Laser-Driven Projection Display.

High-brightness laser lighting is confronted with crucial challenges in developing laser-excitable color converting materials with effective heat dissipation and super optical performance. Herein, a novel composite of phosphor-in-glass film on transparent diamond (PiGF@diamond) is designed and fabricated via a facile low-temperature co-sintering strategy. The as-prepared La3Si6N11:Ce3+ (LSN:Ce) PiGF@diamond with well-retained optical properties of raw phosphor shows a record thermal conductivity of ≈599 W m-1 K-1, which is about 60 times higher than that of currently well-used PiGF@sapphire (≈10 W m-1 K-1). As a consequence, this color converter can bear laser power density up to 40.24 W mm-2 and a maximum luminance flux of 5602lm without luminescence saturation due to efficient inhibition of laser-induced heat accumulation. By further supplementing red spectral component of CaAlSiN3:Eu2+ (CASN:Eu), the PiGF@diamond based white laser diode is successfully constructed, which can yield warm white light with a high color rendering index of 89.3 and find practical LD-driven applications. The findings will pave the way for realizing the commercial application of PiGF composite in laser lighting and display.

Target-in-the-loop coherent beam combining based on an all-fiber structure.

Coherent beam combining (CBC) is a promising technique to realize high-brightness laser output. As a key point to implement CBC, an appropriate phase control feedback structure should be established. With the advantages of a compact structure and no requirement for mirrors to sample, the all-fiber phase control feedback structure has been widely studied. However, the structure faces the challenge of π phase ambiguity. We propose to introduce the target-in-the-loop (TIL) technique into the all-fiber phase-locking structure. By adding measurement laser channels outside the main laser channels, the high-intensity phase noise in amplifiers and low-intensity phase shifts induced by atmospheric turbulences could be decoupled. The π phase ambiguity could be compensated together with the low-intensity phase shifts. In this paper, the principle of the all-fiber phase-locking structure is demonstrated and corresponding numerical simulations are carried out. A TIL CBC system with six laser channels is built to verify the technique. Additionally, the all-fiber structure is easy to scale to large arrays and compatible with high-power amplifiers, which can provide a significant reference for the system design of the TIL CBC system.

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.

High luminous efficiency and excellent thermal performance in rod-shaped YAG:Ce phosphor ceramics for laser lighting.

High power and high brightness laser lighting puts forward new requirements for phosphor converters such as high luminous efficiency, high thermal conductivity and high saturation threshold due to the severe thermal effect. The structure design of phosphor converters is proposed as what we believe to be a novel strategy for less heat production and more heat conduction. In this work, the rod-shaped YAG:Ce phosphor ceramics (PCs) and disc-shaped YAG:Ce PCs as control group were fabricated by the gel casting and vacuum sintering, to comparatively study the luminescence performance for LD lighting, on the premise that the total number of transverse Ce3+ ions and the volume of samples from two comparison groups were same. All rod YAG:Ce PCs with low Ce3+ concentration exhibited the high luminous efficiency and better thermal stability than YAG:Ce discs with high Ce3+ concentration. Under the laser power density of 47.8 W/mm2, the luminous saturation was never observed in all rod-shaped YAG:Ce PCs. The high luminous efficacy of 245∼274 lm/W, CRI of 56.3∼59.5 and CCT of 4509∼4478 K were achieved. More importantly, due to the extremely low Ce3+ doping concentration (0.01 at%), rod-shaped ceramics based LDs devices showed the excellent thermal performance and their surface temperatures were even below 30.5 °C surprisingly under the laser power density of 20.3 W·mm-2 (2 W). These results indicate that the rod shape of phosphor converter is a promising structure engineering for high power laser lighting.

Efficient yellow Dy:ZBLAN fiber laser with high-brightness diode-pumping at 450 nm

A yellow continuous-wave Dy:ZBLAN fiber laser generates 92 mW at 575 nm with a record-high optical efficiency of 12% and high beam quality (M2 ~1.5) via pumping by two high-brightness blue 450-nm GaN laser diodes.

Sub-100-fs Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 laser with more than 60% optical efficiency.

Yb-doped sesquioxides represent one of the most excellent laser crystals applying for high-power ultrafast lasers owing to their very high thermal conductivities and broadband emission spectra. Pumped by a high-brightness Yb-fiber laser at 976 nm, the Yb:Lu2O3 laser delivers a maximum output power that amounts to 3.55 W in the continuous-wave regime with an optical efficiency of 75%. In the mode-locked regime, 90-fs pulses were generated via soft-aperture Kerr-lens mode-locking at 1080.6 nm with an average output power of 2.85 W, which corresponds to an optical efficiency of 60.3% and a slope efficiency of 68.8%. Average output power of the mode-locked Yb:Lu2O3 laser can be further scaled to 3.05 W at the expense of the pulse duration (178 fs), which corresponds to an optical efficiency as high as 64.5%. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest optical efficiency ever reported from any solid-state Kerr-lens mode-locked Yb lasers.

High-power and high-beam-quality photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers: a tutorial

Realization of single-mode, high-power and high-beam-quality (namely, high-brightness) semiconductor lasers, which can rival or even replace bulky lasers such as gas, solid, and fiber lasers, is one of the ultimate goals of laser physics and photonics. The demand for such ultimate single-mode high-brightness semiconductor lasers is increasing for a wide variety of emerging applications including next-generation remote sensing for smart mobility and high-precision laser processing for smart manufacturing. Photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) show promise to meet these demands, based on their broad-area coherent two-dimensional (2D) resonance at a singularity (Γ) point of their 2D photonic band structure. In this tutorial paper, the lasing principle, theoretical analysis, and experimental demonstration of PCSELs are described. Recent progress in PCSEL development, including the formulation of a design guideline for realizing 100-W-to-kW-class single-mode operation, the experimental demonstration of a brightness of 1 GW cm–2 sr–1, and an extension of the lasing wavelengths to telecommunication and mid-infrared wavelengths are also covered.

Robust high-efficiency LuAG: Ce phosphor-in-silica glass (PiSG) for high-brightness laser lighting

Blue laser diodes (LDs), owing to their high electro-optical conversion efficiency, strong directivity, and small size under high power, have paved new paths in the semiconductor lighting and display industry. Blue LDs are expected to replace LED lighting in laser displays, automotive headlights, and other advanced lighting fields. In this study, the Lu3Al5O12: Ce3+ phosphor-in-silica glass (LuAG: Ce-PiSG) is fabricated using spark plasma sintering at 1060 °C. This method enables rapid sintering while maintaining the stability of the silica glass matrix, resulting in high transparency and minimal destruction of the crystal structure of the LuAG: Ce phosphor. The phosphor-converted LDs made from LuAG: Ce-PiSG exhibit high luminous efficacy (298 lm·W−1) and luminous flux (1069 lm). The results show that LuAG: Ce-PiSG has significant potential for application as a robust, high-efficiency phosphor conversion material for high-brightness laser lighting applications.

GaAs-chip-based mid-infrared supercontinuum generation

The mid-infrared spectral region opens up new possibilities for applications such as molecular spectroscopy with high spatial and frequency resolution. For example, the mid-infrared light provided by synchrotron sources has helped for early diagnosis of several pathologies. However, alternative light sources at the table-top scale would enable better access to these state-of-the-art characterizations, eventually speeding up research in biology and medicine. Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear waveguides pumped by compact fiber lasers represents an appealing alternative to synchrotrons. Here, we introduce orientation-patterned gallium arsenide waveguides as a new versatile platform for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. Waveguides and fiber-based pump lasers are optimized in tandem to allow for the group velocities of the signal and the idler waves to match near the degeneracy point. This configuration exacerbates supercontinuum generation from 4 to 9 µm when waveguides are pumped at 2750 nm with few-nanojoule energy pulses. The brightness of the novel mid-infrared source exceeds that of the third-generation synchrotron source by a factor of 20. We also show that the nonlinear dynamics is strongly influenced by the choice of waveguide and laser parameters, thus offering an additional degree of freedom in tailoring the spectral profile of the generated light. Such an approach then opens new paths for high-brightness mid-infrared laser sources development for high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging. Furthermore, thanks to the excellent mechanical and thermal properties of the waveguide material, further power scaling seems feasible, allowing for the generation of watt-level ultra-broad frequency combs in the mid-infrared.

Lithium-aluminium-silicate glass: A novel high-quality glass for preparing LuAG: Ce colour converter for laser illumination

Phosphor-in-glass (PiG) plays an indispensable role as a highly tunable and easily prepared phosphor material for new-generation high-brightness and high-collimation laser lighting (blue laser diodes + colour converters). However, at low power (<5 W), the poor thermal stability and brittleness of PiGs make it challenging to develop high-intensity, high-brightness PiG materials because of their susceptibility to rupture and sudden drop in luminous efficiency (LE) owing to thermal accumulation under high-energy laser irradiation. In this study, a performance-tunable lithium-aluminium-silicate (LAS) glass system was used to adjust the glass composition and synthesise LAS-glasses that can be sintered at low temperatures. In addition to LuAG: Ce phosphor, LuAG: Ce phosphor-in-LAS (LuAG: Ce-PiGLAS) has been successfully developed, which can withstand an 8.24-W laser irradiation without heat dissipation, achieving a luminous flux of 1248 lm and LE of 204 lm/W. Furthermore, a pre-thermal treatment was used to precipitate the lithium disilicate phase to enhance the resistance of the glass to laser ablation, resulting in a power increase to 8.62 W at 1485 lm and maximum LE increase to 212 lm/W with a 2.5% attenuation at 498 K. High-brightness illumination performance was demonstrated in both transmission and reflection modules. This study is anticipated to generate new prospects for PiG applications and accelerate the development of laser lighting.

Laser spot associated high-saturation phosphor-in-glass film for transmissive and reflective high-brightness laser lighting

Laser spot associated high-saturation phosphor-in-glass film for transmissive and reflective high-brightness laser lighting

Intense ultraviolet–visible–infrared full-spectrum laser

A high-brightness ultrabroadband supercontinuum white laser is desirable for various fields of modern science. Here, we present an intense ultraviolet-visible-infrared full-spectrum femtosecond laser source (with 300–5000 nm 25 dB bandwidth) with 0.54 mJ per pulse. The laser is obtained by sending a 3.9 μm, 3.3 mJ mid-infrared pump pulse into a cascaded architecture of gas-filled hollow-core fiber, a bare lithium niobate crystal plate, and a specially designed chirped periodically poled lithium niobate crystal, under the synergic action of second and third order nonlinearities such as high harmonic generation and self-phase modulation. This full-spectrum femtosecond laser source can provide a revolutionary tool for optical spectroscopy and find potential applications in physics, chemistry, biology, material science, industrial processing, and environment monitoring.

Mitigation of TMI in an 8 kW tandem pumped fiber amplifier enabled by inter-mode gain competition mechanism through bending control.

In this work, the impact of fiber bending and mode content on transverse mode instability (TMI) is investigated. Based on a modified stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering (STRS) model considering the gain competition between transverse modes, we theoretically detailed the TMI threshold under various mode content and bending conditions in few-mode fibers. Our theoretical calculations demonstrate that larger bending diameters increase the high order mode (HOM) components in the amplifier, which in turn reduces the frequency-shifted Stokes LP11o mode due to the inter-mode gain competition mechanism, thus improving the TMI threshold of few-mode amplifiers. The experimental results agree with the simulation. Finally, by optimizing the bending, an 8.38 kW output tandem pumped fiber amplifier is obtained with a beam quality M2 of 1.8. Both TMI and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) are well suppressed at the maximum power. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the TMI in few-mode amplifiers and offers a practical method to realize high-power high-brightness fiber lasers.

High-brightness green laser diode that uses a multi-order half-wave plate to realize twice-combined polarized beams

In this paper, we describe a method for realizing twice-combined polarized beams by selectively changing the polarization state of lasers with different wavelengths. This improves the output power and brightness of a green laser diode system. A multi-order half-wave plate plays a significant part in combining the polarization states of the first-combined polarized beam by changing the polarization state from orthogonal to approximately parallel. We obtained a maximum output power of 2.85 W and a laser brightness of 25.36 MW/cm2·sr with an optical–optical conversion efficiency of 82.85% and a spectral width of 15.48 nm. Compared with traditional methods for combining polarized beams, the output power is improved by 22.85% and the brightness by 8.65%. This structure provides a new technology for achieving high output power and high brightness from a green laser diode system, and it breaks through the limit of the number of laser units that can be used in combining polarized beams.