Infrared illumination is used in the commercial and defense markets for surveillance and security, for high-speed
imaging, and for military covert operations. Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are an attractive candidate
for IR illumination applications as they offer advantageous properties such as efficiency, intrinsically low diverging
circular beam, low-cost manufacturing, narrow emission spectrum, and high reliability. VCSELs can also operate at
high temperatures, thereby meeting the harsh environmental requirements of many illuminators. The efficiency and
brightness of these VCSELs also reduce the requirements of the power supply compared to, for example, an LED
approach. We present results on VCSEL arrays for illumination applications, as well as results on VCSEL-based
illumination experiments. These VCSELs are used in illuminators emitting from a few Watts up to several hundred
Watts. The emission of these VCSEL-based illuminators is speckle-free with no interference patterns. Infra-red
illumination at up to 1,600ft (500m) from the source has been demonstrated using VCSEL-based illumination, without
any optics.
Many applications require laser pump sources with high output power (tens to hundreds of Watts) in the
smallest spot, with the smallest divergence. Such high-brightness pump sources typically use edge-emitting
semiconductor lasers. However, it is also possible to use high-power two-dimensional vertical-cavity surfaceemitting
laser (VCSEL) arrays for this purpose. Using a single 976nm 2D VCSEL array chip in an external
cavity configuration, combined with a matching micro-lens array, we have demonstrated more than 30W output
power from a 50μm/0.22NA fiber, corresponding to a brightness of 10MW/cm2.sr. This represents a substantial
reduction in module complexity compared to edge-emitter based modules with similar brightness. These novel
high-brightness pump sources exhibit some well-known intrinsic VCSEL performance features such as wavelength
stability and narrow spectrum. Power and brightness can be scaled up using polarization and spectral combining.
We present recent results on high-power, high-efficiency two-dimensional vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser
(VCSEL) arrays emitting around 808nm. Selectively oxidized, top-emitting single VCSEL emitters with 49% power
conversion efficiency were developed as the basic building block of these arrays. Because of the strong GaAs
absorption at the 808nm wavelength, the traditional bottom-emitting, substrate-emission configuration is not possible for
large arrays that require efficient heat dissipation. The processing and packaging challenges are discussed. We
demonstrate 3mm x 3mm arrays and 5mm x 5mm arrays with the GaAs substrate completely removed and mounted on
diamond submounts. These arrays emit more than 50W and 120W, respectively, and exhibit a maximum powerconversion
efficiency of 42%.
We present record output power levels (a few hundred Watts) in continuous-wave (CW) and quasi-CW (QCW) from 2D vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays, corresponding to power densities exceeding 1kW/cm2 in CW and 3.5kW/cm2 in QCW. These VCSEL arrays emit around 975nm with narrow spectral width (<1nm) and excellent wavelength stability (<0.07nm/K). Peak power conversion efficiency of properly designed arrays exceeds 50%. Additional features of these arrays include emission in a circular, low-diverging beam, and reliable high-temperature operation. These arrays can also be operated reliably in short pulses (<200nsec) at many times their roll-over CW current, making them useful for high-energy applications. VCSEL arrays with 2.2kW peak output power operating under 100nsec pulse-width have been demonstrated.
We review recent results on high-power, high-efficiency two-dimensional vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser
(VCSEL) arrays emitting around 980nm. Selectively oxidized, bottom-emitting single VCSEL emitters with 51% power
conversion efficiency were developed as the basic building block of these arrays. More than 230W of continuous-wave
(CW) power is demonstrated from a ~5mm x 5mm array chip. In quasi-CW mode, smaller array chips exhibit 100W
output power, corresponding to more than 3.5kW/cm2 of power density. High-brightness arrays have also been
developed for pumping fiber lasers, delivering a fiber output power of 40W. We show that many of the advantages of
low-power single VCSEL devices such as reliability, wavelength stability, low-divergence circular beam, and low-cost
manufacturing are preserved for these high-power arrays. VCSELs thus offer an attractive alternative to the dominant
edge-emitter technology for many applications requiring compact high-power laser sources.
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