Single transverse mode operation of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers with micromirrors

Keeler, Gordon Arthur; Serkland, Darwin K.; Geib, K.M.; Peake, Gregory M.; Már, A.

doi:10.1109/lpt.2004.842297

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Nevertheless, continuous-wave (cw) EP-VECSELs have been demonstrated [11,12] and output powers of up to 900 mW have been obtained with a 150-µm device diameter in multimode operation [13]. Also, mode locking with down to 15-ps FWHM pulse width [14] and a wafer-scale EP-VECSEL with a micromirror and 10-mW cw output power have been reported [15]. So far, the average output power of passively mode locked EP-VECSELs has been limited to 40 mW [16] even though nearly 1 W of average power has been demonstrated at cw.…”

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confidence: 99%

On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

et al. 2008

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Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) yield an excellent beam quality in conjunction with a scalable output power. This paper presents a detailed numerical analysis of electrically pumped VECSEL (EP-VECSEL) structures. Electrical pumping is a key element for compact laser devices. We consider the optical loss, current confinement, and device resistance. The main focus of our investigation is on the achievement of an adequate radial carrier distribution for fundamental transverse mode operation. It will be shown that a trade off between the conflicting optical and electrical optimization has to be found and we derive an optimized design resulting in guidelines for the design of EP-VECSELs which are compatible with passive mode locking. Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) [1] are of high scientific and industrial interest due to their large fundamental transverse mode output power, scaling with the device radius, the near diffraction limited output beam, and the suitability for intracavity frequency conversion [2] and passive mode locking [3,4]. Passive mode locking of an optically pumped VECSEL has been demonstrated with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) [5] in a folded external cavity. After the first passively mode locked VECSEL was demonstrated in the year 2000 [6], the milestone of nearly 1 W average output power was achieved in 2002 with improved thermal management [7]. The pulses in the early experiments were often strongly chirped, but mode-locking dynamics in VECSELs revealed that a soliton-like pulse-shaping mechanism in the positive-dispersion regime can help to generate short pulses with low chirp. With the aid of intracavity dispersion control, it then became possible to obtain nearly transform limited picosecond pulses with record high output powers of 2.1 W at 4 GHz [4] and 1.4 W at 10 GHz [8]. The pulse width could be u Fax: +41-44-633-10-59, E-mail: keller@phys.ethz.ch significantly shortened to the sub-500-fs regime using faster SESAMs based on the ac Stark effect [9]. The vertical integration of the absorber into one monolithic structure with the gain quantum wells (QWs) is an important step towards higher pulse repetition rates with decreased cavity size and wafer-scale integration. This has been achieved for the first time and is referred to as the mode-locked integrated-externalcavity surface-emitting laser (MIXSEL) [10]. So far, all these devices have been optically pumped, which involves a more complex optical setup. Thus, an important step towards waferscale fabrication of compact ultrafast VECSELs is the design of electrically pumped VECSEL (EP-VECSEL) structures. This is challenging because of optical losses and Joule heating in the doped layers. Nevertheless, continuous-wave (cw) EP-VECSELs have been demonstrated [11,12] and output powers of up to 900 mW have been obtained with a 150-µm device diameter in multimode operation [13]. Also, mode locking with down to 15-ps FWHM pulse width [14] and a wafer-scale EP-VECSEL w...

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On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

et al. 2008

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“…Intracavity thermal lens and a microchip mode of laser operation are also used in electrically pumped VECSELs (Chapter 7). Another version of a compact microchip VECSEL laser cavity does not rely on thermal lensing in the semiconductor, but instead uses spherical microlenses, or micromirrors, etched directly into outer surface of diamond heat spreaders in contact with the OPS chip surface [141][142][143][144]; arrays of such microchip lasers have also been demonstrated [143]. A potential compact laser cavity for VECSELs is the singletransverse mode optical resonator cavity [145], where shaping of the nonplanar resonator mirror can make all higher order transverse modes fundamentally unstable.…”

Section: 32mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Optical and Electrical Pumping VECSEL lasers have been made with two types of excitation: optical [18,22] and electrical (Chapter 7) [92,93,141,[150][151][152][153]. Electrical excitation of the laser by a diode current injection across a p-n junction is very appealing, as it requires only a simple low-voltage current source to drive the laser, rather than separate pump lasers with their pump optics and power supplies.…”

Section: 33mentioning

confidence: 99%

VECSEL Semiconductor Lasers: A Path to High‐Power, Quality Beam and UV to IR Wavelength by Design

Kuznetsov¹

2010

Semiconductor Disk Lasers

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Since its invention and demonstration in 1960, several types of laser have been developed, such as solid-state, semiconductor, gas, excimer, and dye lasers [1]. Today, lasers are used in a wide range of important applications, particularly in optical fiber communication, optical digital recording (CD, DVD, and Blu-ray), laser materials processing, biology and medicine, spectroscopy, imaging, entertainment, and many others. A number of properties enable the application of lasers in these diverse areas, each application requiring a particular combination of these properties. Some of the most important laser properties are laser emission wavelength; output optical power; method of laser excitation, whether by optical pumping or electrical current injection; laser power consumption and efficiency; high-speed modulation or short pulse generation ability; wavelength tunability; output beam quality; device size; and so on. Thus, optical fiber communication [2], a major application that enables modern Internet, commonly requires lasers with emission wavelengths in the 1.55 mm lowloss band of glass fibers and with single-transverse mode output beams for coupling into single-mode optical fibers. Typically, a given laser type excels in some of these properties, while exhibiting shortcomings in others. For example, by using different material compositions and structures, the most widely used semiconductor diode laser [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] can cover a wide range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-IR, can be advantageously driven by diode current injection, and is very compact and efficient. However, the good beam quality, that is, single-transverse mode nearcircular beam operation, can be typically achieved in semiconductor lasers only for output powers below 1 W. Much higher power levels are achievable from semiconductor lasers only with large aspect ratio highly multimoded poor quality optical beams. On the other hand, the solid-state lasers [13,14], including fiber lasers [15], can emit hundreds of watts of output power with excellent beam quality, however, their emission wavelengths are restricted to discrete values of electronic transitions in ions, such as the classic 1064 nm wavelength of the Nd:YAG laser, making them Semiconductor Disk Lasers. Physics and Technology. Edited by Oleg G. Okhotnikov

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“…Hence, we have investigated a number of custom laser designs and evaluated their ability to meeting the following requirements: high power output (~100 mW), high modulation bandwidth (~1 GHz), good output modal structure (i.e., light directed on-axis), low cost, and ease of integration. Previously, we described two innovative designs with potential applicability to the PPF: micro-external-cavity VCSELs and flip-chip bonded, substrate-removed 850-nm bottom emitting VCSELs [3,4]. Both approaches yield high output power with good on-axis performance, but present significant integration challenges.…”

Section: High-power Vcsel Emittersmentioning

confidence: 99%

VCSEL-based microsensors for photonic proximity fuzing of munitions

Keeler¹,

Már²,

Geib³

et al. 2008

Optical Technologies for Arming, Safing, Fuzing, and Firing IV

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This paper describes technologies developed at Sandia National Laboratories to create a compact, robust, and affordable photonic proximity sensor for munitions fuzing. The proximity fuze employs high-power vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays, resonant-cavity photodetectors (RCPDs), and refractive micro-optics that are integrated within a microsensor whose volume is approximately 0.01 cm 3 . Successful development and integration of these custom photonic components should enable a g-hard photonic proximity fuze that replaces costly assemblies of discrete lasers, photodetectors, and bulk optics. Additional applications of this technology include void sensing, ladar and short-range 3-D imaging.

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Single transverse mode operation of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers with micromirrors

Cited by 27 publications

References 10 publications

On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

VECSEL Semiconductor Lasers: A Path to High‐Power, Quality Beam and UV to IR Wavelength by Design

VCSEL-based microsensors for photonic proximity fuzing of munitions

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