Diode laser-based dual-wavelength light sources are experimentally compared in individual and common operation. First, a Y-branch distributed Bragg reflector diode laser is presented. It consists of two laser cavities with a single output waveguide. The device provides 180 mW and dual-wavelength laser emission around 785 nm. The measured spectral widths and spectral distance are 20 pm and 0.6 nm, respectively. Resistors implemented next to the gratings allow changing the wavelength spacing within a range of 0.0 nm - 1.7 nm. Lateral far field profiles show a strong modulation and a lateral shift of 1° between both far fields indicates beam steering. Second, a multimode interference coupler-based master oscillator power amplifier is presented. It provides 500 mW dual-wavelength laser emission. Within the available power range, spectral widths of 20 pm and nearly constant peak emission wavelengths are measured. In comparison to quasicontinuous wavelength tuning obtained for the Y-branch laser, the MMI MOPA enables non-continuous wavelength tuning. As an example, selected spectral distances of 0.0 nm, 0.5 nm, 1.0 nm, 1.5 nm, and 2.0 nm are demonstrated in individual operation. Beam steering is successfully eliminated. Near field widths of 5 μm and far field angles of 15° result in beam propagation ratios of M2 = 1.2 at the 1/e2 level in all operation modes. This enables easy beam shaping or efficient single-mode fiber coupling. Both devices are suitable for spectroscopic applications such as Raman spectroscopy and shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy as well as for the generation of THz radiation by photomixing.
We present weakly tapered ridge waveguide distributed Bragg reflector lasers with three active regions epitaxially stacked in a common waveguide emitting nanosecond pulses around 905nm for LIDAR. The vertical structure is optimized for pulsed operation and implementation of a surface Bragg grating for emission in the 2nd order vertical mode. 6mm long diode lasers with a 25μm output aperture, integrated in an inhouse high pulse current electronic driver, provide a pulse power ⪆20W, a beam propagation ratio M2~4.5, and a brightness of ~16W(mm mrad). The emission spectrum features a spectral bandwidth of ⪅0.3nm and a temperature-related shift of ⪅70pm/K.
Diode lasers providing nanosecond high power optical pulses are key components for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems used for, e.g., distance measurements. For autonomous vehicles, good beam quality is an important aspect to achieve the required high spatial resolution. While 30 μm broad area devices can achieve pulse powers >20 W emitting at 905 nm, the beam quality factor M2 is about ten and further degrades with increasing stripe width. Tapered-Ridge-Waveguide (TRW) lasers with 23 μm wide output apertures reduced the M2 to about 2.2 without power loss. However, deployment of such lasers also requires a low temperature-dependent wavelength shift allowing for narrowband spectral filters. Here, we present TRW Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) lasers with a 23 μm wide output aperture. For emission around 905 nm the active region comprises an InGaAs single quantum well embedded in an AlGaAs waveguide. A surface Bragg grating is implemented into an unpumped section of the device enabling a wavelength shift of only 0.07 nm/K. The electrical interface realized by a nanosecond pulse driver developed in-house delivers pulse currents up to some 10 A within 2 ns to 5 ns pulses at 10 kHz. We investigate different designs of the trenches etched to define the ridge-waveguide. Beam quality factors of about three are achieved at pulse powers of about 10 W. Experimental results on the optical power, the near and far field profiles, and spectral characteristics are presented. Integration into an electrical driver module allows for reliability tests on an application relevant testbed.
We present simulation results showing the impact of a longitudinal linearly varying electrical contact width on intra-cavity intensity, carrier density and temperature distributions of broad-area lasers. In addition, the impact of index guiding trenches on these internal distributions is investigated. The simulations were performed using a time-dependent traveling wave model which takes all relevant physical effects into account. We show that a tapered contact area results in a reduced longitudinal intensity inhomogeneity as well as longitudinal spatial hole burning, at the cost of an increased temperature towards the front facet. Index guiding trenches were found to effectively prevent lateral intensity modulation as well as lateral carrier accumulation near the contact edges at the front facet.
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