Highly reliable high-power cw AlGaAs (808 nm) 1-cm bar laser diodes for Nd:YAG pump application

The reliability of high power continuous-wave (CW) 1 cm monolithic AlGaAs (808 nm) laser diodes is extensively investigated. Lasers with two total aperture sizes, 1800 micrometers and 3000 micrometers , are life tested at power levels of 10 W and 20 W, respectively for 1500 hours to 4000 hours at 30 degree(s)C heatsink temperature. These lasers exhibit no failures during the lifetests (total device hours of 45,000 hours for the 10 W lasers and 42,000 hours for the 20 W lasers). We demonstrate a mean time between failures (MTBF) exceeding 50,000 hours and a median life (ML) of 40,000 hours for the 10 W laser diode and a MTBF over 48,000 hours and a ML of 13,000 hours for the 20 W laser diode.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.