KEYWORDS: Near field optics, Pulsed laser operation, Waveguides, Semiconductor lasers, Switching, Fiber lasers, High power lasers, Picosecond phenomena, Near field, Fiber Bragg gratings
In this paper we present detailed experimental results of the impact of the amplitude and the widths of current pulses injected into a gain-switched distributed feedback (DFB) laser emitting at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The laser with a InGaAs triple quantum well active region has a 3 μm wide ridge waveguide (RW) and a cavity length of 1.5 mm. Gainswitching is achieved by injecting current pulses with a width of 50 ns, a repetition frequency of 200 kHz and a very high amplitude up to 40 times the threshold current (2.5 A). Time resolved investigations show, that depending on the amplitude and the duration of the current pulses, the optical power exhibits different types of oscillatory behavior during the pulses, accompanied by changes in the lateral near field intensity profiles and optical spectra. Three different types of instabilities can be distinguished: Mode beating with frequencies between 25 GHz and 30 GHz, switching between different lateral modes and self-sustained oscillations with a frequency of about 4 GHz. Our results are relevant for the utilization of gain-switched DFB-RW lasers as seed lasers for fiber laser systems and in other applications, which require high optical power.
High power two-section tapered lasers are promising candidates to generate short optical pulses by Q-switching. The
main advantage of these devices is that high peak optical power can be generated by using a low excitation current in the
ridge-waveguide section. In this work we analyze the Q-switching dynamics of two-section tapered lasers by means of a
simplified three-rate-equation model and we compare the results with measurements in 1060 nm DBR multi/section
tapered lasers. The experiments and simulations show similar trends with repetition frequency, modulation signal
amplitude and bias conditions. The effect of the driving conditions on the peak power and pulse duration is analyzed.
100 ps pulses with 4.2 W peak power are obtained at 900 MHz repetition frequency.
Mode-locked diode lasers generate reliably picosecond or even sub-picosecond optical pulses. Especially, colliding pulse
mode-locked (CPM) lasers are promising sources for the generation of short optical pulses with a high repetition
frequency.
We present experimental results for the generation of ps optical pulses with multi-section ridge waveguide CPM lasers.
The lasers with a central emission wavelength of 1065nm consist of an odd number of 100μm long electrically separated
sections. CPM operation is achieved by reverse DC biasing the central section which acts as a saturable absorber and
forward DC biasing the other (gain) sections.
For a cavity length of 1.9mm, passive mode-locking is achieved for a reverse bias of -2.0V applied to the saturable
absorber. The repetition frequency is about 43GHz and the pulse length is 3.3ps assuming a sech-pulse shape. The
frequency comb spans 6nm assuming a dynamical range of 20dB with a frequency spacing of about 21GHz. At a cavity
length of 0.9mm a frequency comb with more than 175 single frequencies over 12nm with a spacing of 45GHz is
obtained. Detailed investigations of the optical pulse and frequency comb generation in dependence on cavity length,
reverse absorber voltage and DC bias current will be presented.
Diode lasers are ideally suited for the generation of optical pulses in the nanoseconds and picoseconds ranges by gainswitching,
Q-switching or mode-locking. We have developed diode-laser based light sources where the pulses are
spectrally stabilized and nearly-diffraction limited as required by many applications. Diffraction limited emission is
achieved by a several microns wide ridge waveguide (RW), so that only the fundamental lateral mode should lase.
Spectral stabilization is realized with a Bragg grating integrated into the semiconductor chip, resulting in distributed
feedback (DFB) or distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers. We obtained a peak power of 3.8W for 4ns long pulses
using a gain-switched DFB laser and a peak power of more than 4W for 65ps long pulses using a three-section DBR
laser. Higher peak powers of several tens of Watts can be reached by an amplification of the pulses with semiconductor
optical amplifiers, which can be either monolithically or hybrid integrated with the master oscillators. We developed
compact modules with a footprint of 4×5cm2 combining master oscillator, tapered power amplifier, beam-shaping optical
elements and high-frequency electronics. In order to diminish the generation of amplified spontaneous emission between
the pulses, the amplifier is modulated with short-pulses of high amplitude, too. Beyond the amplifier, we obtained a peak
power of more than 10W for 4ns long pulses, a peak power of about 35W for 80ps long pulses and a peak power of 70W
for 10ps long pulses at emission wavelengths around 1064nm.
A new compact picosecond light source is presented. It consists of a master oscillator, an ultra fast pulse picker
element and integrated high-frequency electronics arranged on a micro bench with a footprint of 5 cm x 4 cm.
The master oscillator is a 10 mm long laser consisting of 200 μm long saturable absorber, 1500 μm long gain,
8000 μm long cavity, 200 μm long DBR and 100 μm long monitor sections. Pulses with a width of 7 - 10 ps
(depending on output power) and a peak power of 1 W are generated by hybrid mode locking. Despite the 10
mm long cavity, the repetition rate is still 4.3 GHz, which is too high for many applications. In order to reduce
the repetition rate to values between 1 kHz and 100 MHz, one has to pick single pulses out of the continuous
pulse sequence generated by the mode-locked laser. For this purpose a semiconductor pulse picking element
based on a ridge waveguide, which acts as an optical gate, and a tapered section for pulse amplification is
developed. Selective pulse picking with a free choice of the repetition rate is achieved by driving the RW section
by a high frequency GaN high-electron mobility transistor with low capacitances and high current density. If a
current pulse with a width of about 200 ps (smaller than the spacing of the pulses) is injected, the RW section
becomes transparent and an injected optical pulse can pass the RW section. This pulse is subsequently amplified
by injecting short current pulses with a width of 2 ns and a peak current up to 20 A into the tapered section.
Pulse energies in the nJ range at a frequency of 16 MHz are obtained.
Frequency conversion of near infrared diode lasers provides an efficient method to generate laser radiation in the visible spectral range. There are several requirements for efficient frequency doubling like singlemode emission and good beamquality, which can be fulfilled by light sources based on master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA). This contribution reports on the generation of 600 mW output power at 488 nm by single pass frequency doubling. An InGaAs distributed feedback (DFB) laser was used as MO and an InGaAs tapered amplifier as PA in a MOPA diode laser system. A maximum output power of 4 W at 976 nm was achieved in continuous wave operation mode, at a heatsink temperature of about 0°C with this pump source. For frequency conversion a 30 mm long PPMgLN bulk crystal held at 65°C, was used in a simple single-pass configuration. A maximum conversion efficiency of 15% and an overall wall-plug efficiency of 4% were achieved.
A master-oscillator power-amplifier system at λ=1083 nm with 5.3 Watt output power and a narrow spectral linewidth was realised. The master oscillator was a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser with a 3-μm wide ridge waveguide (RW) and a total length of 2 mm. The power amplifiers were a 4 mm long antireflection coated tapered laser diodes with 500 μm or 1000 μm long straight RW sections. At a temperature of 40oC and an injection current of 160 mA, the DBR laser had a wavelength of 1083 nm. The emitted light of the DBR laser was focused into the tapered amplifier with a seed power of up to 36 mW. At 10oC and at a current through the tapered amplifier of 8.6 A, a maximum output power of 5.3 W was measured. Over the full operating range single longitudinal mode operation at a wavelength of λ=1083 nm was maintained with a side mode suppression ratio better than 35 dB. The vertical far field angle was below 22o (FWHM).
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