High‐brightness long‐wavelength semiconductor disk lasers

Abstract

A review on the recent developments in the field of long-wavelength (λ > 1.2 μm) high-brightness opticallypumped semiconductor disk lasers (OPSDLs) is presented. As thermal effects have such a crucial impact on the laser performance particular emphasis is given to modelling the thermal behaviour and optimisation of the heat-sinking. Selected OPSDL devices, realized in different III-V and IV-VI semiconductor material systems, with corresponding emission wavelengths between 1.2 μm and 5.3 μm are presented. Specific applications in this broad spectral range are addressed and methods to obtain high output power are discussed in terms of the underlying material properties and device operating principles.Schematic OPSDL setup, two-dimensional far-field profile of an emitted beam and typical emission spectrum of an (AlGaIn)(AsSb)-based OPSDL.

Semiconductor disk lasers for the generation of visible and ultraviolet radiation

“…The benefits of SDL technology are however not restricted to this wavelength range, as illustrated in the chart of SDL spectral coverage shown in Fig. 39, and in a recent review paper focussed on long-wavelength (λ > 1.2 μm) SDLs [13]. In the region around 1 μm, the engineered thindevice approach has been very successful in terms of power scaling, demonstrating record output powers.…”

“…They also became attractive to the diodepumped solid-state laser community as they constitute a variation on the doped-dielectric thin-disk concept [8,9], with the advantage of a bandgap engineered emission wavelength and a simplified pumping scheme. Since then, this combined interest and application-driven developments have made this technology the subject of vibrant topical research [10][11][12][13]. In this review, after an overview of potential applications, we provide a tutorial on the design and engineering of visible and ultraviolet (UV) emitting SDLs as well as an up-to-date summary of their performance.…”

Recent advances in ultrafast semiconductor disk lasers

“…In continuous wave (cw) operation, SDLs were operated at emission wavelengths ranging from 391 nm 53 to 5.3 mm [54][55][56] . The spectral coverage of cw SDLs has already been reviewed by several authors [57][58][59][60] . Using fourth harmonic generation, even wavelengths down to 244 nm were presented 61 .…”

Tunable narrow linewidth AlGaInP semiconductor disk laser for Sr atom cooling applications

“…Also, as for any solid state lasers the frequency noise bandwidth of SDLs is in the kHz range, hence about 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the one of dye lasers or laser diode. These outstanding properties, and the fact that they can be designed to operate at almost any wavelength from the visible to the midinfrared via bandgap engineering and efficient intracavity conversion [3,4], make SDLs ideal laser sources for optical clocks and atom trapping [5]. Indeed, there are already a few instances of SDL development for atomic clock applications targeting clocks based on either caesium [6,7] or mercury [8,9].…”