1. Curved-grating surface-emitting DFB lasers and arrays
- Author
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James E. Logue, Jeffrey J. Powers, Deborah P. Kwo, Patricia A. Lee, Jeffrey S. Mott, Steven H. Macomber, Robert M. Dixon, Richard S. Setzko, and Bradley D. Schwartz
- Subjects
Materials science ,business.industry ,Physics::Optics ,Grating ,Laser ,Semiconductor laser theory ,law.invention ,Optics ,Filamentation ,law ,Optoelectronics ,Laser beam quality ,business ,Diffraction grating ,Quantum well ,Tunable laser - Abstract
A new method of producing nearly diffraction limited beam quality from high-power semiconductor lasers is presented. It is shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that well-designed grating curvature in surface-emitting distributed feedback lasers can alleviate the problems of multi-mode operation and filamentation in wide stripe devices. Surface-emitting devices of this type are capable of very high power without the optical damage limitations of edge-emitting lasers. A method for combining arrays of these lasers with series electrical wiring and precision optical alignment has been developed. A 64 element array was demonstrated that produced approximately 160 W of cm power and could be focused into a small spot.
- Published
- 1997
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