Individually addressable laser diode arrays (IAB) have been first demonstrated in near-infrared wavelengths, 8xx nm and 9xx nm, being mostly utilized in the digital printing industry. When moving towards visible wavelengths, other applications emerge. Examples of these are various display applications, including AR/VR products and head-up-displays. In addition, novel applications for narrow linewidth lasers have emerged in the field of quantum computing. In this paper, we present our latest single-mode visible array results in 650 nm region, showing up to three times improvement in brightness. In addition, we demonstrate faster stabilization of the device during life-test and reach stabler operating power of the devices. Life-tests have been run with Automatic Current Control (ACC) mode with two different operating currents, showing only minor change in output power. High stability and reliable operation combined with our IAB design are enablers for further miniaturization of device design, scalable to 100 emitters and beyond, reaching e.g. higher resolution for printing and display applications. Additionally, such design and scalability can be integrated with on-chip gratings reaching DBR and DFB operation, which enables new capabilities in quantum applications.
Quantum technology can leverage from various semiconductor laser solutions – depending on the technology, lasers can be used for excitation for quantum systems and quantum control of molecules. Examples of such quantum systems are single photon emitters, timing sources used for picosecond pulses, and frequency combs. Necessary performance parameters for such laser devices are single-mode operation, narrow spectral line width, and frequency stability over operation lifetime. Wavelength and optical output power of the diode laser devices can vary depending on the system. Narrow spectral linewidth with frequency stability can be achieved with distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) or distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with quarter-lambda phase shift is included in the grating, or with external cavities. In addition, efficiency of the systems can be improved when using laser diode arrays instead of single-emitter chips. Further improvement can be introduced by implementing individually addressable laser diode array operation (IAB). In this work, we present ways to improve our state-of-the-art low pitch laser diode array operation, within NIR wavelengths 780 to 930 nm. Emitter pitches as low as 20 μm introduce complex interference and cross-talk phenomena that can appear as multiple transverse modes. These matters can be addressed with device design starting from the epitaxial structures, gratings, ridge waveguide optimizations up to facet coating of the arrays. Such arrays offer opportunities for dense device design and flexibility for end applications in, e.g., external cavity operating applications or silicon photonics.
Quantum systems have highly variable requirements and tailored solutions depending on the technology. For instance, lasers are used for quantum control of particles or molecules and excitation for quantum systems. For the latter purpose, suitable applications are frequency comb generation, timing sources for picosecond pulses, and single photon emitters1,2,3. Key performance parameters for lasers used in this area are single-mode operation, narrow linewidth, and frequency stability. Wavelength of the lasers can vary from UV to NIR, as well as the optical output power. Narrow linewidth and frequency stability can be achieved with distributed feedback (DFB) or distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers, when quarter-lambda phase shift is included, or with external cavities.4 For enhancing performance and flexibility, such laser diodes can be fabricated as arrays, or even individually addressable laser diode arrays (IABs).5 In this work, we report the state-of-the-art diode laser arrays scalable beyond 100 emitters per array, operating in single mode from 900 nm to 930 nm, enabling new possibilities for rising quantum system applications. Our array design enables high power levels per emitter and dense emitter pitch varying from 20 µm to 100 µm, offering opportunities for dense device design and flexibility for applications. The emitters show excellent uniformity and beam profiles throughout the array. Implementing individually addressable emitters to our design offers opportunities for improved control for more complex and demanding applications.
The demand for fiber lasers has increased due to widening of application areas and higher power levels. As fiber lasers have become the main workhorse for high power material processing applications and competition among fiber laser manufacturers have become more evident, the laser manufacturers are in the process to find ways to lower overall cost of ownership to become more competitive. Key areas to look at are the efficiency of the fiber laser, especially the efficiency of the diode pump modules, and the higher reliability of its’ components. There is increasing demand for high power, high brightness, and higher efficiency laser diodes for kW-level fiber laser pumping. We present high-efficiency and high brightness laser diode optimized for lowered operating voltage while maintaining high power conversion efficiency of 60%. The laser diode design is a single quantum-well InGaAs/AlGaAs structure with graded index profile and large optical cavity design. The laser is fabricated into 4 mm long chips with a 94 μm emitter stripe indented for standard 105/125 μm core fiber laser pumping. The chips are mounted on AlN carrier and characterized as chip-on-submount. The laser produces 12.6 W optical power at 13 A and 1.62 V, reaching 60% conversion efficiency at operating point. The beam divergence angles are 8.5° horizontal and 34° vertical enabling high brightness and efficient fiber coupling. Furthermore, the lasers are reliability tested where they show outstanding reliability without sudden failures and ware-out rate less than 1% per 1000 hour over several thousand hours of testing.
Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have just recently started generating a lot of interest as the illumination source in the multitude of commercial applications. VCSELs capability to provide narrow spectrum emission with low temperature sensitivity and high beam quality, coupled with the possibility of nanosecond pulses generation, makes VCSELs an excellent laser platform for the outdoors, high-precision time-of-flight (ToF) and structured light applications. These advantageous features of VCSELs emission arise from their vertical cavity geometry, which also enables possible VCSELs direct integration onto circuitry and allows power scaling by arranging single-emitting VCSELs into compact high-power 2D arrays. These benefits have made VCSEL the current most popular illumination source for the 3D sensing applications both in the consumer market (e.g. proximity sensors for face and gesture recognition) as well as in the industrial sector (e.g. automotive short- to middle-range LiDAR and in-cabin monitoring). We present development results of both high-efficiency VCSEL single-emitters and multi-Watt VCSEL arrays emitting at the 940 nm purposed for 3D sensing applications. The VCSEL development involved optimization of epitaxial design in terms of DBR doping concentrations and the material content of the bottom DBR and oxide layer. While, on the other hand, optimization of the device parameters and processes targeted oxide aperture and mesa diameters, as well as etching depth. Wet thermal oxidation process has been specifically developed to facilitate precise oxidation depth control, run-torun reproducibility, and uniformity on the wafer scale. Successful VCSEL development is attributed to the Modulight’s full-cycle in-house semiconductor fabrication capabilities.
We demonstrate a frequency doubled dual-gain quantum dot semiconductor disk laser operating at 590 nm. The
reflective gain element, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, has active region composed of 39 layers of InGaAs Stranski-
Krastanov quantum dots. The gain mirrors produce individually 3 W and 4 W of output power while the laser with both
elements in a single cavity reveals 6 W at 1180 nm with beam quality factor of M2<1.2. The loss induced by the
nonlinear crystal is compensated by gain boosting in the dual-gain laser and 2.5 W of output power at 590 nm was
achieved after frequency conversion.
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