Elimination of catastrophic optical mirror damage in continuous-wave high-power laser diodes using multi-section waveguides

Abstract

One of the persistent obstacles for high-power laser diodes (LDs) has been the catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD), which limits the operating power level and lifetime of commercial high-power LDs. The output facet of LD reaches a critical temperature resulting in COMD, which is an irreversible device failure. Here, we fabricate multi-section LDs by tailoring the waveguide structure along the cavity that separates the output facet from the heat-generating lasing region. In this method, the LD waveguide is divided into electrically isolated laser and window sections along the cavity. The laser section is pumped at a high current to achieve high output power, and the window is biased at a low current with negligible heat generation. This design restricts the thermal impact of the laser section on the facet, and the window section allows lossless transport of the laser to the output facet. The lasers were operated continuous-wave up to the maximum achievable power. While standard LDs show COMD failures, the multi-section waveguide LDs are COMD-free. Our technique and results provide a pathway for high-reliability LDs, which would find diverse applications in semiconductor lasers.

COMD-free continuous-wave high-power laser diodes by using a multi-section waveguide method

“…This study uses a multi-section waveguide method shown in Figure 1 to effectively separate laser heat load from the output facet, hence strongly reducing facet temperature even below the laser cavity temperature developed in our previous work [19,20]. In this work, we fabricated and carried out detailed characterization of the devices, studied their optimum working conditions, and revealed the elimination of COMD in LDs [21,22]. The LD waveguide is divided into two sections, laser and passive waveguide, which gives electrical and thermal isolation.…”

“…We utilized the CMOS-based-thermoreflectance (TR) method (Figure 2) to obtain facet temperatures of LDs. It is a well-established surface temperature measurement method [25,26,27,28] and its principle is based on the relative change in reflectivity due to temperature change given as:…”

Влияние ионной очистки поверхности излучающего скола 9хх нм лазерных диодов на основе InGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs на их предельную мощность излучения

“…В настоящее время активно развиваются методы, позволяющие увеличить предельную мощность лазерных диодов и их срок службы [1][2][3]. Одним из таких методов является пассивация поверхности излучающей грани полупроводниковых лазеров.…”

48W continuous-wave output power with high efficiency from a single emitter laser diode at 915nm

“…Along with the rapid development of fiber lasers, high power and PCE have become more critical to provide a cost-effective laser diode. To increase the output power [9,10] and power conversion efficiency [11], epitaxial design methods [12][13][14][15], epitaxial growth technologies [16,17], facet reliability against COMD [18][19][20][21], and passivation technologies [8,22,23] have been greatly improved. Increasing the reliable output power and PCE are always fundamental pursuits in research and practical applications.…”