Improvement of spatial and temporal coherence of a broad area laser diode using an external-cavity design with double grating feedback

We demonstrate a novel technique for narrow bandwidth and highly improved lateral mode operation of a high-power broad area laser diode. The system uses simultaneous feedback from the first diffracted order and the zeroth reflected order of a diffraction grating. The two feedback paths lead to simultaneously improvement of the spectral and spatial properties of the laser diode. The laser system operates in the well-known asymmetric double-lobed far field pattern with the larger lobe being extracted as the output. The bandwidth of the output beam is measured to 0.07 nm, which corresponds to an improvement of a factor of 17 compared to the bandwidth of the freely running laser. The output from the system contains 54% of the energy reaching the grating, or 75% of the power reflected into the zeroth order. The improvements in both the spatial and temporal coherence opens the possibility of using this laser system in applications such as frequency doubling and pumping of optical parametric oscillators. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.