Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Research Articles

In situ probing of mode-locked vertical-external-cavity-surface-emitting lasers.

We utilize an asynchronous optical sampling technique to study the gain dynamics of vertical-external-cavity-surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) under mode-locked operation. This allows for an in situ characterization of the gain depletion and recovery over nanoseconds with femtosecond-scale resolution. Our method allows for a more direct study of intracavity gain dynamics than traditional pump/probe measurements. We observe a rapid depletion of the gain on the timescale of the intracavity pulse. Afterward, a rapid recovery over a few picoseconds due to intraband scattering and carrier heating takes place, followed by a long recovery attributed to the continuous supply of carriers by the pump laser.

Monolithic GaInNAsSb/GaAs VECSEL Operating at 1550 nm

The first monolithic GaAs-based vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) operating at 1550 nm is reported. The VECSEL operation is based on a gain mirror which was grown in a single growth run by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The gain mirror comprised eight GaInNAsSb/GaAs quantum wells with a photoluminescence peak at 1505 nm and an AlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflector ensuring high reflectivity. The VECSEL chip was pumped with an 808-nm diode laser that had a large quantum defect in respect to the lasing wavelength. An output power of 80 mW in continuous wave mode and 210 mW in pulsed pump mode are demonstrated close to room temperature.

Stabilization of flat-mirror vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers by spatiotemporal modulation of the pump profile

We propose and demonstrate theoretically that vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) with external flat mirrors can be stabilized by applying a periodic spatiotemporal modulation of the pump current. Such pump modulation is shown to suppress the pattern-forming instabilities (modulation instabilities), which eventually results in stable beam emission. A modified Floquet linear stability analysis is used to characterize the dynamics of the modulated system and to evaluate its stabilization performance. Stability maps identify the regions in parameter space for complete and partial stabilization of VECSELs operating in different regimes depending on the external-cavity length. In particular, the stabilization method is shown to operate most efficiently in Class-A laser limit (for relatively long VECSEL resonators), while it becomes ineffective in Class-B laser limit (for relatively short resonators). The stabilization effect is further confirmed through direct integration of the dynamical equations.

Antiphase Noise Dynamics in a Dual-Wavelength Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser

We present extensive measurements of the pump-dependent dynamics of antiphase noise in a dual-wavelength multimode vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL). We show that antiphase noise at frequencies below 10 kHz dominates the relative-intensity noise spectrum in the emission of a dual-wavelength VECSEL due to gain competition between the two-lasing wavelengths. We observe that with increasing pump power the antiphase noise decreases in amplitude but increases in bandwidth. Surprisingly, at even higher pump powers the spectral extent of the antiphase noise narrows significantly. The results provide information critical to potential applications of dual-wavelength VECSELs, such as intracavity parametric frequency conversion.

615 nm GaInNAs VECSEL with output power above 10 W.

A high-power optically-pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) generating 10.5 W of cw output power at 615 nm is reported. The gain mirror incorporated 10 GaInNAs quantum wells and was designed to have an emission peak in the 1230 nm range. The fundamental emission was frequency doubled to the red spectral range by using an intra-cavity nonlinear LBO crystal. The maximum optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 17.5%. The VECSEL was also operated in pulsed mode by directly modulating the pump laser to produce light pulses with duration of ~1.5 µs. The maximum peak power for pulsed operation (pump limited) was 13.8 W. This corresponded to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 20.4%.

Thermal properties of multiple quantum wells used in vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Accurate thermal properties of multiple quantum wells (MQWs) in the active region of an optically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) are crucial for designing the thermal management of the laser. In existing related research, MQWs were regarded as bulk materials in the thermal analysis, higher thermal conductivity was employed, and the temperature rise in the active region was underestimated. We use three theoretical methods, in which various nanoscale effects are considered, to calculate the thermal conductivity of InGaAs/GaAs MQWs used in 1- μ m waveband VECSEL. Theoretical results are compared to the reported experimental data, and the one more consistent with experiments is picked out. By the use of the computed thermal conductivity of InGaAs/GaAs MQWs, temperature rise in a 980-nm VECSEL is simulated and the results are in good agreement with measurements.

8.5 W VECSEL output at 1270 nm with conversion efficiency of 59%.

We report on 1270 nm vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) with up to 59% conversion efficiency and maximum output power of 8.5 W (pump limited), at 5°C heat sink temperature. These VECSELs comprised wafer-fused gain mirrors in the flip-chip (thin-disk) heat dissipation scheme. The reflected pump light from the gain mirror surface was found to depend considerably on temperature and pump power.

Accurate measurement of the residual birefringence in VECSEL: Towards understanding of the polarization behavior under spin-polarized pumping.

In this paper we report birefringence measurements of an optically pumped (100)-oriented InGaAs/GaAsP multiple quantum well (MQWs) Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) in oscillating conditions. The proposed technique relies on the measurement in the microwave domain of the beatnote between the oscillating mode and the amplified spontaneous emission of the cross-polarized non-lasing field lying in the following longitudinal mode. This technique is shown to offer extremely high sensitivity and accuracy enabling to track the amount of residual birefringence according to the laser operation conditions. The experience fits within the broader framework of polarization selection in spin-injected lasers.

Wavelength beam combining of VECSELs using multiplexed volume Bragg gratings in a compound cavity

A method of wavelength beam combining to enhance the total output brightness of vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELs) using multiplexed volume Bragg gratings (MVBGs) is presented. The MVBGs are designed to introduce wavelength-specific feedback for the 1020 nm near-infrared wavelength VECSELs to achieve both spectral stabilisation and beam combining effects. In conjunction with the compound cavity arrangement, a combined output of >6 W is achieved with >98% combining efficiency using two VECSELs. The beam combining scheme produces near-diffraction limited output with enhanced spectral density and wavelength-stabilised characteristics.

Dual-comb modelocked laser.

In this paper we present the first semiconductor disk laser (SDL) emitting simultaneously two collinearly overlapping cross-polarized gigahertz modelocked pulse trains with different pulse repetition rates. Using only a simple photo detector and a microwave spectrum analyzer directly down-converts the frequency comb difference from the optical to the microwave frequency domain. With this setup, the relative carrier-envelope-offset (CEO) frequency can be accessed directly without an f-to2f interferometer. A very compact design is obtained using the modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL) which is part of the family of optically pumped SDLs and similar to a vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) but with both gain and saturable absorber integrated into the same semiconductor wafer (i.e. MIXSEL chip). We then simply added an additional intracavity birefringent crystal inside the linear straight cavity between the output coupler and the MIXSEL chip which splits the cavity beam into two collinear but spatially separated cross-polarized beams on the MIXSEL chip. This results in two modelocked collinear and fully overlapping cross-polarized output beams with adjustable pulse repetition frequencies with excellent noise performance. We stabilized both pulse repetition rates of the dual comb MIXSEL.

High brightness diode-pumped organic solid-state laser

High-power, diffraction-limited organic solid-state laser operation has been achieved in a vertical external cavity surface-emitting organic laser (VECSOL), pumped by a low-cost compact blue laser diode. The diode-pumped VECSOLs were demonstrated with various dyes in a polymer matrix, leading to laser emissions from 540 nm to 660 nm. Optimization of both the pump pulse duration and output coupling leads to a pump slope efficiency of 11% for a DCM based VECSOLs. We report output pulse energy up to 280 nJ with 100 ns long pump pulses, leading to a peak power of 3.5 W in a circularly symmetric, diffraction-limited beam.

Widely Tunable High-Power Two-Color VECSELs for New Wavelength Generation

We report a collinear two-color vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL), which with minimal changes is suitable for intracavity type I second harmonic generation (SHG), type II sum frequency generation (SFG), and type II difference frequency generation (DFG). The demonstrated two-chip cavity provides high-brightness, independently tunable two color, orthogonally polarized intracavity lasing modes. VECSEL chips with emission around 970 and 1185 nm allow the generation of a wide range of wavelengths in the visible and long-wavelength spectral range. The open cavity, collinear geometry, provided a platform for efficient SHG yellow output, SHG blue output, and SFG of green output in the same cavity while only changing the nonlinear crystals. In all cases for visible light generation, a lithium triborate nonlinear crystal is introduced in the cavity region where the fundamental beams are overlapped. Simultaneous SHG and SFG in the same cavity resulting in overlapped outputs consisting of two visible colors are also demonstrated. By using two VECSEL chips with similar gain peaks, intracavity terahertz generation by DFG is demonstrated for the first time in a T-cavity VECSEL geometry. A custom-made tilted periodically poled lithium niobate nonlinear crystal generated DFG signal around 1 THz.

Compact Intracavity Singly-Resonant Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by GaSb-Based Vertical External Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser: Concept and the Main Operational Characteristics

The concept of an intracavity singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator pumped by a GaSb-based vertical external cavity surface-emitting laser has been proposed. The steady-state characteristics of the parametric oscillator with the joint cavity shared by the pump and signal optical fields have been numerically analyzed. Using a few millimeter long orientation-patterned quasi-phase-matched GaAs nonlinear crystal in such a cavity allows fairly compact ( ~15-mm long) device working in the mid-infrared range (wavelength of 16.5 μm) to be built.

Vertical external cavity surface emitting PbTe/CdTe quantum dot lasers for the mid-infrared spectral region

Optically pumped vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSELS) emitting in the mid-infrared range are demonstrated with an active structure based on PbTe quantum dots (QDs) embedded in CdTe. In contrast to Stranski-Krastanov QDs, the PbTe QDs are fabricated by a strain-free synthesis method consisting of a molecular beam epitaxy growth step followed by a post-growth-annealing step. The laser emission of the VECSELs covers a wavelength range between 3.5 and 4.3 μm by changing the temperature from 85 to 240 K. The threshold power is lower than 100 mW(P) and the output power is more than 50 mW(P) at low temperature.

Comparison of AlGaInP-VECSEL gain structures

We present a comparison of epitaxial designs for barrier pumped vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers in the red spectral range. The VECSEL chips are grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy as GaInP/AlGaInP multi-quantum well structures with 20 and 21 compressively strained quantum wells, respectively. The QWs are placed in various packages in a separate confinement heterostructure with quaternary AlGaInP-barrier and cladding layers. Beneath the active region there is a distributed Bragg reflector consisting of 55 λ/4 pairs of Al0.5Ga0.5As/AlAs. We compare three different QW distributions: one design includes 20 QWs arranged in 10 pairs, the second one contains 20 QWs arranged in 10 pairs with tensile strained barriers to compensate the compressive strain of the QWs, the third one has an exponential distribution of the QWs in tensile strained barriers. Laser parameters such as wavelength, differential efficiency, optical output power and absorption of the pump laser were measured for the different designs. By using the exponential distribution of QWs we could improve the differential efficiency by 42% and the output power by 20% compared to the not strain compensated 10×2 QW design. Furthermore we could improve the absorption efficiency by 60% at nearly the same laser wavelength.

Broadly tunable mid-infrared VECSEL for multiple components hydrocarbon gas sensing

A new sensing platform to simultaneously identify and quantify volatile C1 to C4 alkanes in multi-component gas mixtures is presented. This setup is based on an optically pumped, broadly tunable mid-infrared vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) developed for gas detection. The lead-chalcogenide VECSEL is the key component of the presented optical sensor. The potential of the proposed sensing setup is illustrated by experimental absorption spectra obtained from various mixtures of volatile hydrocarbons and water vapor. The sensor has a sub-ppm limit of detection for each targeted alkane in a hydrocarbon gas mixture even in the presence of a high water vapor content.

Influence of spin-dependent carrier dynamics on the properties of a dual-frequency vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser

The properties of a dual-frequency vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL), in which two linear orthogonal polarization modes are oscillating simultaneously, are theoretically investigated. We derive a model based on the ideas introduced by San Miguel et al. [San Miguel, Feng, and Moloney, Phys. Rev. A 52, 1728 (1995)], taking into account the spin dynamics of the carriers inside the quantum well based gain medium of the dual-frequency VECSEL. This model is shown to succeed in describing quite a few properties of the dual-frequency VECSEL, such as the behavior of nonlinear coupling strength between the modes, the spectral behavior of intensity noises of the modes, and also the correlation between these intensity noises. A good agreement is found with experimental data. The variables associated with the spin-dependent carrier dynamics can be adiabatically eliminated due to the class-A dynamical behavior of the considered laser which is based on a cm-long external cavity. This leads to a simple analytical description of the dynamics of the dual-frequency VECSEL, providing a better understanding of the physics involved.

Gigahertz self-referenceable frequency comb from a semiconductor disk laser.

We present a 1.75-GHz self-referenceable frequency comb from a vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) passively modelocked with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The VECSEL delivers 231-fs pulses with an average power of 100 mW and is optimized for stable and reliable operation. The optical spectrum was centered around 1038 nm and nearly transform-limited with a full width half maximum (FWHM) bandwidth of 5.5 nm. The pulses were first amplified to an average power of 5.5 W using a backward-pumped Yb-doped double-clad large mode area (LMA) fiber and then compressed to 85 fs with 2.2 W of average power with a passive LMA fiber and transmission gratings. Subsequently, we launched the pulses into a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and generated a coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC). We then detected the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) frequency (f(CEO)) beat note using a standard f-to-2f-interferometer. The f(CEO) exhibits a signal-to-noise ratio of 17 dB in a 100-kHz resolution bandwidth and a FWHM of ≈10 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the detection of the f(CEO) from a semiconductor laser, opening the door to fully stabilized compact frequency combs based on modelocked semiconductor disk lasers.

Ultralow Noise and High-Power VECSEL for High Dynamic Range and Broadband RF/Optical Links

We describe a compact, ultralow noise, and high-power semiconductor laser implemented in a high performances wideband externally modulated optical link. The laser is based on a vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) designed for high-power and low-noise operation. Thanks to a specific design of the gain chip, the half-VCSEL, based on a metamorphic Bragg mirror and a report on a copper substrate, an optical power of 110 mW is obtained at 1.55 μm in the single frequency regime. For low-noise operation, the laser cavity is designed for free-relaxation-oscillations operation, i.e., in the so-called class-A regime. The Class-A VECSEL exhibits a relative intensity noise below -170 dB/Hz over a wide frequency bandwidth, from 300 MHz to 40 GHz, except at the laser free spectral range (20.4 GHz). In the low-frequency range, the laser noise, mainly due to transfer of pump noise to laser noise, goes from -110 dB/Hz at 1 kHz down to -158 dB/Hz at 10 MHz. Two externally modulated optical links are implemented and compared in terms of the RF gain and the noise figure. The first optical link is based on the ultralow noise class-A VECSEL and the second one is based on a low noise class-B DFB laser. Thanks to the outstanding noise properties of the designed VECSEL, the VECSEL-based optical link outperforms the DFB-based one, in particular for frequencies larger than 20 GHz.

Wafer design of widely tunable vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser with broadband gain spectrum

The wafer design of a widely tunable InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) at 1,064 nm was presented. A GaAs/AlAs based double-band mirror (DBM) was employed to yield sufficient reflectivity (\(>\)0.999) over 118 nm wavelength coverage, which is 54 nm wider than that of a usually used distributed Bragg reflector. In the active region, an antiresonant subcavity, formed by the DBM and the air-semiconductor interface, was introduced to produce extended longitudinal confinement factor, and two kinds of InGaAs quantum wells with different In composition were used to expand the material gain. As a result, a broadband gain spectrum of the semiconductor wafer with 85 nm FWHM bandwidth was obtained, and this was valuable for broadband performance of a tunable VECSEL.