We report progress in the development of GaAs-based laser diodes with ultra-wide stripe widths of W = 1200 μm emitting at a wavelength of λ = 915 nm. In order to restrict ring oscillations and higher order modes in these ultra-wide devices we utilise periodic current structuring with a period of 29 μm and width of 20 μm. We compare the performance of a device with current structuring realised through contact layer implantation of the device after epitaxial growth, termed a 'Contact Implant' laser, and a device with buried current structuring close to the active region of the device realised using two step epitaxial regrowth and Buried-Regrown-Implant-Structure (BRIS) technology, termed a 'BRIS' laser. Quasi-Continuous Wave (QCW) measurement of the devices show that both the 'Contact Implant' and 'BRIS' laser achieve a very high peak output power of Popt = 200 W at a power conversion efficiency of ηE = 59% and ηE = 52%, respectively, with a peak efficiency of around 70%. QCW beam-quality measurements show that the 'BRIS' laser has a much reduced 95% power content far-field angle of 9°, compared to 12.7° for the 'contact implant' laser, at a power of Popt = 100 W. Under Continuous Wave (CW) operation the 'contact implant' laser reaches an output power of Popt = 68 W at ηE = 57% and the 'BRIS' laser reaches Popt = 53 W at ηE = 50%, but with a reduced far-field angle of 11.9° at Popt = 40 W for the 'BRIS' laser.
Epi-down mounting can degrade performance in broad area lasers when the stress field extends into the active region. Thick p-side epitaxial layers have the potential to isolate the device from external stress, but add electrical resistance and losses from current spreading. Therefore, we use two-step epitaxy to combine highly-doped p-side epitaxial layers (2x thicker than conventional) with a resistive oxygen-implanted layer located close to the active region to block lateral current spreading. The resulting buried-regrown-implant-structure (BRIS) lasers with 100 μm stripes and lasing wavelength of 915 nm show high efficiency (peak of 67%, 55% at 20 W) and high lateral brightness (3.3 W/mm·mrad up to 17.5 W output power), improved over reference devices, in spite of the thick p-side.
The optical inspection of the surfaces of diode lasers, especially the p-sides and facets, is an essential part of the quality control in the laser fabrication procedure. With reliable, fast, and flexible optical inspection processes, it is possible to identify and eliminate defects, accelerate device selection, reduce production costs, and shorten the cycle time for product development. Due to a vast range of rapidly changing designs, structures, and coatings, however, it is impossible to realize a practical inspection with conventional software. In this work, we therefore suggest a deep learning based defect detection algorithm that builds on a Faster Regional Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN) as a core component. While for related, more general object detection problems, the application of such models is straightforward, it turns out that our task exhibits some additional challenges. On the one hand, a sophisticated pre- and postprocessing of the data has to be deployed to make the application of the deep learning model feasible. On the other hand, we find that creating labeled training data is not a trivial task in our scenario, and one has to be extra careful with model evaluation. We can demonstrate in multiple empirical assessments that our algorithm can detect defects in diode lasers accurately and reliably in most cases. We analyze the results of our production-ready pipeline in detail, discuss its limitations and provide some proposals for further improvements.
High-power, efficient semiconductor laser bars are demanded in many applications including pumping solid-state lasers and fibers. A narrow beam divergence is essential for increasing coupling efficiency and realizing an overall simple, cost-effective system. In kilowatt-class laser bars with 4 mm resonator length containing multiple broad-area emitters (with stripe width varying within 90–1200 μm) that are fabricated using conventional processing techniques, a strong thermal lens is generated within the individual emitters during laser operation. The lensing effect becomes stronger with increasing operating power. This allows a large number of lateral modes to be guided within the resonator and contribute to the laser emission, consequently deteriorating the beam quality (i.e. leading to larger lateral beam divergence angle). An approach to reduce the lateral divergence of the bar by modifying the in-plane structure of the emitters is presented. Based on simulation results, multiple lateral emitter structures have been developed and measured in quasi-continuous wave mode at low and high heat conditions with thermal resistance of 0.02 K/W and 0.05 K/W, respectively, comparable to continuous-wave testing with advanced coolers. Experimental results show that the improved lateral structures lead to enhanced power-current performance and improved beam divergence. A reduction of around 20% (~2°) in the bar lateral beam divergence angle at 95% power content has been achieved in testing at 800 W, with a simultaneous 5%-points gain in conversion efficiency with the highest performance lateral emitter structure.
KEYWORDS: Semiconductor lasers, High power lasers, Temperature metrology, Continuous wave operation, Near field, Optical testing, Near field optics, Thermography
Results of an extended series of experimental studies into the beam parameter product (BPP) of high-power diode lasers are summarized, covering efforts to clearly diagnose the limiting factors and develop novel device technology to address these limits. We review diagnostic studies, separating BPP empirically into bias-dependent (thermal) and bias-independent (non-thermal) terms for convenience of analysis. First, we use monolithically grating-stabilized lasers to confirm the presence of a well-defined series of guided modes, rather than filaments. Second, we present results from a series of custom devices and tests (guided by targeted simulations). Third, we show that effects driven by thermal lensing and current spreading dominate the variation in BPP with bias. The residual bias-independent BPP background remains around 30- 50% of the total, and is most likely partly limited by gain-guiding effects. Fourth, the presence of longitudinal temperature variation due to non-uniform optical intensity along the resonator further degrades the bias-independent background level. Lateral current blocking technology is shown to reduce current spreading, and improve the bias-dependent BPP. Thermal engineering also improves bias-dependent BPP, achieved by varying epitaxial layer structure and by targeted changes in bar layout, clarified using measurements in thermography cross-referenced to simulation. In summary, we contend that experimental studies have allowed the effects that limit lateral BPP to be largely clarified, so that research efforts can now focus on developing device technology suitable for reducing BPP without other penalties. The background level to BPP remains an open topic, and further study is needed to better understand and address this.
The performance characteristics of two stack modules (emitting near 780 nm) each consisting of 24 wide-aperture (1200 μm) diode laser chips is presented and the results are discussed. The stack modules are constructed using diode lasers from two different epitaxial design iterations. Compared to the first iteration, the second iteration was optimized for higher conversion efficiency and optical in-pulse power (lower losses), without compromising the beam characteristics. The stack modules make use of an established (field-proven) FBH design that utilizes innovative edge-cooling of both sides of the diode stack with large-channel (micro-channel free), water-cooled, thermally-expansion-matched heatsinks. We investigate here their performance up to high duty cycles and results for pulse width up to 10 ms at high duty cycle (50 %) operation is presented. Test of the completed modules show that the iteration 2 (power-optimized) chips deliver about 15 % more optical power without compromising the beam propagation ratio. Specifically, the stack module with first iteration chips delivers approx. 1.4 kW whereas the stack module with the optimized chips delivers approx. 1.6 kW. For the stack module that uses the first chip iteration a fiber coupling to a 1 mm core fiber was demonstrated with approx. 90 % coupling efficiency and loss channels are discussed. Finally, very high duty cycle operation (50 %) is demonstrated for the first time, using an iteration 1 stack module.
GaAs-based 1-cm bars based on extreme-triple-asymmetric (ETAS) epitaxial designs are presented. The investigated structure shows low optical loss and weak power saturation at high current allowing high output power Popt and power-conversion-efficiency ηΕ. The resulting ETAS bars containing 20 emitters with 395 μm wide stripes and 4 mm long cavity, operate with the highest-to-date quasi-continuous-wave power (200 μs, 10 Hz) Popt = 1.9 kW, delivered from just one quantum well, with maximum ηΕ = 67% at THS = 298 K heat-sink temperature. High ηΕ = 62% is maintained at 1.0 kW and remains 55% at 1.5 kW. Even higher Popt = 2.26 kW is achieved at a reduced THS = 203 K. At 203 K, maximum ηΕ climbs to 74% while maintaining a high ηΕ < 60% up to 2 kW, and reaches 55% at 2.26 kW. We also present progress in lateral bar layout, which is further optimized for narrow lateral beam divergence and evaluated for the first time up to 2 kA current. Experimental results show that lateral far field at 95% power can be lowered by 2-3° without sacrificing Popt and ηΕ, reaching ~15° at 1.8 kW at 298 K. Polarization purity also remains < 95% across the full measured range.
We present 940nm GaAs-based high-power broad-area diode lasers that use an enhanced self-aligned lateral structure "eSAS", implemented within an extreme-triple-asymmetric vertical structure with a thin p-side. In this structure, two-step epitaxial growth with intermediate selective etching is used to introduce current-blocking structures consisting of n-doped GaAs and InGaP layers outside the laser stripe, whose location, thicknesses and doping concentrations are precisely defined. These blocking structures confine current to the device center, thus reducing carrier losses in the edges and limiting the detrimental effects of lateral current spreading and carrier accumulation on beam quality, without compromising conversion efficiency, output power or polarization purity. We present results of eSAS single-emitters as well as bars with multiple emitters, in comparison to gain-guided reference devices. In addition, we demonstrate optimized blocking structures with improved current blocking, which are crucial for the realization of the eSAS structure.
GaAs based high power broad area lasers are the most efficient source of optical energy and are used in many industrial applications. Despite considerable improvement in power and efficiency in recent years, further improvement is needed due to the high demand from industry. We review here progress in vertical epitaxial layer design, showing how higher performance is enabled by migrating from asymmetric large optical cavity (ASLOC) designs to the newly developed extreme-triple-asymmetric (ETAS) vertical structure. Building on earlier studies at 940 nm, we focus on gain-guided lasers that have operating wavelength 970 nm, have 90 μm stripe width and 4 mm resonator length. We can emphasize the positive impact of epitaxial layer design, without need for advanced lateral structures. We show how design improvement increases conversion efficiency ηΕ at 12 W output power from 56% to 66%, whilst peak (saturation) power increases from Popt = 14 to 19 W in continuous wave (CW) mode for p-down single emitters on CuW carriers (thermal resistance 3 K/W). Progress in epitaxial design also leads to smaller lateral beam parameter product (BP Plat) at higher bias, leading to lateral brightness Popt/BPPlat < 3 W/mm × mrad. Specifically, in these most recent ETAS structures, by design BPPlat increases more slowly with self-heating, and this leads directly to lower BPPlat at high bias. We will also review options for further increased performance, include efforts to understand and improve BPPlat, which is also limited by a non-thermal ground level BPP0 (here ∼ 1 mm × mrad).
Mid-infrared (MIR) solid state lasers based on thulium and holmium-doped crystals are of increasing interest in applications in medicine, material processing and particle physics. Thulium-doped lasers can be efficiently pumped at wavelengths around 780 nm and diode laser pumps with high conversion efficiency and high intensity are sought at this wavelength. Diode lasers integrated in laser stacks suitable for high duty cycle pumping are of particular interest for high energy class applications, especially when realizable without need for the additional cost and reliability hazard of microchannel cooling. However, high efficiency and reliable power is more challenging to realize at 780 nm than around 940…980 nm, due to limitations on the capability of the available semiconductor materials. Progress is therefore presented here in the design, realization and test of 780 nm pump sources suitable for high energy class pump applications, using GaAs-based TM-polarized diode lasers. We show how power per device can be increased from 4 W for conventional single emitters (90…100 μm) up to 60 W at high duty cycle (10%) and long pulse length (10 ms) for high brightness large aperture emitters (with 1200 μm aperture, equivalent to around 500 W per bar), at the cost of reduced operating efficiency (from 60 to 50%). We show progress in integrating these large aperture emitters into novel passively (macro-channel) edge-cooled stacks, that are then suitable for use in pumping high energy class Th:YAG laser systems.
We present 1 kW-emitting diode-laser bars optimized for higher conversion efficiency and smaller far-field angle Θ95% power content), as needed, e.g., for solid-state laser pumping (wavelength λ= 940 nm). First, we review the latest high-efficiency designs, targeting reduced series resistance Rs and less power saturation and then discuss developments for high brightness via tailored chip-internal heat distribution. Recent results include conversion efficiency η of 66% and far-field width Θ 95%= 8.8° at 1 kW (thermal resistance Rth ~ 0.02 K/W), as well as 64% efficiency and 10.8° divergence at Rth ~ 0.05 K/W, equivalent to CW operation with advanced packaging.
KEYWORDS: Near field, Semiconductor lasers, Silicon, Epitaxy, High power lasers, Resistance, Broad area laser diodes, Semiconducting wafers, High power diode lasers, Cladding
Over the last decades considerable efforts have been undertaken to increase output power, conversion efficiency and beam quality of GaAs based broad-area diode lasers by optimizing the epitaxial layer design as well as the lateral device structure. In this respect the reduction of current spreading is essential to meet future requirements for high power diode lasers. Lateral current spreading enhances the accumulation of carriers at the edges of the active region defined by the contact stripes which results in additional leakage current and lasing of higher-order lateral modes, reducing efficiency and beam quality. We address this issue by implementing a tailored deep implantation scheme as a current block, implanting O and Si, using two-step epitaxy. This work elucidates the effects of buried current apertures, fabricated by Si and O doping at different doses on the optoelectronic properties of broad area lasers. It will be shown how deep O- and Si-implantation significantly suppresses current spreading, leading to lower threshold currents and higher efficiency.
We present an overview of collaborative research between FBH (diode lasers) and Coherent|Dilas (packaging) to enable applications using red diode lasers. We summarize recent progress, focusing on the development of laser bars for highintensity pulse-pumping of alexandrite lasers. Specifically, high fill factor 1-cm bars packaged and tested (25°C, 10 Hz, 600 μs) on passively cooled mounts confirmed peak power of more than 350 𝑊 (> 0.2 𝐽 per bar), where efficiency was ~35% at 665 nm wavelength. Power was limited by thermal rollover. No evidence was seen for lateral lasing. Passively cooled 8-bar stack performance is presented, confirming a reliable optical power of 250 W/bar in stack format.
Broad area lasers that are tailored to be most efficient at the highest achievable optical output power are sought by industry to decrease operation costs and improve system performance. Devices using Extreme-Double-ASymmetric (EDAS) epitaxial designs are promising candidates for improved efficiency at high optical output powers due to low series resistance, low optical loss and low carrier leakage. However, EDAS designs leverage ultra-thin p-side waveguides, meaning that the optical mode is shifted into the n-side waveguide, resulting in a low optical confinement in the active region, low gain and hence high threshold current, limiting peak performance. We introduce here explicit design considerations that enable EDAS-based devices to be developed with increased optical confinement in the active layer without changing the p-side layer thicknesses. Specifically, this is realized by introducing a third asymmetric component in the vicinity of the quantum well. We call this approach Extreme-Triple-ASymmetric (ETAS) design. A series of ETAS-based vertical designs were fabricated into broad area lasers that deliver up to 63% power conversion efficiency at 14 W CW optical output power from a 100 μm stripe laser, which corresponds to the operation point of a kW optical output power in a laser bar. The design process, the impact of structural changes on power saturation mechanisms and finally devices with improved performance will be presented.
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