Direct measurement of the 2D gain profile in a tapered semiconductor laser (Conference Presentation)

Paul O. Leisher; Rebecca B. Swertfeger; James A. Beil; Stephen M. Misak; Jenna Campbell; Jeremy Thomas; Daniel S. Renner; Milan L. Mashanovitch

doi:10.1117/12.2253424

20 April 2017 Direct measurement of the 2D gain profile in a tapered semiconductor laser (Conference Presentation)

Paul O. Leisher, Rebecca B. Swertfeger, James A. Beil, Stephen M. Misak, Jenna Campbell, Jeremy Thomas, Daniel S. Renner, Milan L. Mashanovitch

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10123, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVI; 101231C (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253424
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2017, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Single mode tapered semiconductor lasers producing watt-class output powers often suffer from beam quality degradation as drive current increases. The dominant degradation mechanism is believed to be poor gain clamping in the periphery of the optical mode; as the injection current is increased, excess gain in this region eventually leads to parasitic lasing in the amplifier section of the device. However, this effect has not previously been directly observed and other effects such as thermal lensing and gain guiding also likely contribute. Nevertheless, it has been previously shown that by engineering the overlap of the gain profile with the nonuniform optical intensity distribution, performance can be significantly improved. In this work, we report on the direct observation and mapping of the 2D gain profile in a tapered semiconductor laser. InGaAsP-based tapered diode lasers are fabricated with windowed openings on the back (substrate) side of the chip. The devices are soldered junction down for continuous wave operation. An optical microscope is used to observe and map the 2D spontaneous emission profile, and hence gain and carrier density, of the device under operation. The results are compared to a theoretical model to better understand the physical limitations of beam quality degradation in tapered diode lasers.

Conference Presentation

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Paul O. Leisher, Rebecca B. Swertfeger, James A. Beil, Stephen M. Misak, Jenna Campbell, Jeremy Thomas, Daniel S. Renner, and Milan L. Mashanovitch "Direct measurement of the 2D gain profile in a tapered semiconductor laser (Conference Presentation)", Proc. SPIE 10123, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVI, 101231C (20 April 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253424

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KEYWORDS

Semiconductor lasers

Thermal effects

Continuous wave operation

Optical amplifiers

Optical microscopes

Current controlled current source

Photonics

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