Mitigation of thermal lensing effect as a brightness limitation of high-power broad area diode lasers

John G. Bai; Paul Leisher; Shiguo Zhang; Sandrio Elim; Mike Grimshaw; Chendong Bai; Louis Bintz; David Dawson; Ling Bao; Jun Wang; Mark DeVito; Rob Martinsen; Jim Haden

doi:10.1117/12.875849

16 February 2011 Mitigation of thermal lensing effect as a brightness limitation of high-power broad area diode lasers

John G. Bai, Paul Leisher, Shiguo Zhang, Sandrio Elim, Mike Grimshaw, Chendong Bai, Louis Bintz, David Dawson, Ling Bao, Jun Wang, Mark DeVito, Rob Martinsen, Jim Haden

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7953, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers X; 79531F (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.875849
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2011, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Recent efforts to improve the reliability of high-power broad-area diode lasers operating in the 9xx nm wavelength band have yielded single emitter devices with excellent reliability to >15 W. However, in applications requiring fiber coupling, the fiber coupling power of a single emitter device is rather limited by its linear power density, and hence brightness of the device. Unfortunately, due to a rapid increase in the slow-axis divergence, a typical broad-area diode laser offers a much lower brightness increase and an earlier rollover than its output power. In this work, we show that thermal lensing (rather than carrier- or gain-induced guiding) in the slow axis is the predominant cause of beam quality degradation at increased driving current. Some of the techniques which are presented include the use of cavity length scaling and thermal path engineering. It is expected these approaches are critical to enabling continued scaling of highbrightness fiber coupled diode lasers.

Citation Download Citation

John G. Bai, Paul Leisher, Shiguo Zhang, Sandrio Elim, Mike Grimshaw, Chendong Bai, Louis Bintz, David Dawson, Ling Bao, Jun Wang, Mark DeVito, Rob Martinsen, and Jim Haden "Mitigation of thermal lensing effect as a brightness limitation of high-power broad area diode lasers", Proc. SPIE 7953, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers X, 79531F (16 February 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.875849

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available