Membrane external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs): State of the art in broadband (> 25 THz) tuning and antiresonant gain structure design

Hermann Kahle; Philipp Tatar-Mathes; Patrik Rajala; Mircea Guina

doi:10.1117/12.2632734

25 May 2022 Membrane external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs): State of the art in broadband (> 25 THz) tuning and antiresonant gain structure design

Hermann Kahle, Philipp Tatar-Mathes, Patrik Rajala, Mircea Guina

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume PC12141, Semiconductor Lasers and Laser Dynamics X; PC1214109 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2632734
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2022, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Membrane external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs) are a new kind of vertically emitting semiconductor laser with enormous potential and versatility for tailoring the laser parameters. Part of their benefits is related to the fact that they do not need to employ integrated distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), which are known to hamper the heat transfer and limit wavelength versatility via strain and band-gap engineering constrains. Furthermore, the substrate on which the active region is grown on is removed and the resulting thin active region membrane is sandwiched between transparent intra cavity heat spreaders for improved thermal management. In recent years, MECSELs have experienced a rapid progress. With all their benefits, where an intrinsically excellent beam quality is just one of it, new dynamics were brought into the field of vertically emitting semiconductor lasers. The most important advances, like the radical design simplification, double-side pumping and power scaling capabilities play a major role. Also, wavelengths not yet covered by classical vertical emitters like VCSELs and VECSELs (vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers) have been reached as growth related limitations or difficulties introduced by the DBR do not play a role anymore. The latest developments on continuous wave broadband tunable MECSELs (> 25 THz) will be discussed as well as the relevance of non-resonant designs of semiconductor gain membranes sandwiched between transparent heat spreaders.

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Hermann Kahle, Philipp Tatar-Mathes, Patrik Rajala, and Mircea Guina "Membrane external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs): State of the art in broadband (> 25 THz) tuning and antiresonant gain structure design", Proc. SPIE PC12141, Semiconductor Lasers and Laser Dynamics X, PC1214109 (25 May 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2632734

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KEYWORDS

Terahertz radiation

Semiconductor lasers

Structural design

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

Absorption

Distributed Bragg reflectors

Indium gallium phosphide

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