This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8965, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and Conference Committee listing.

Laser based displays, such as 10 lm to 70K lm laser projectors and laser diode (LD) backlight liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs, have attracted much attention because of the large gamut, low power consumption, and so on. Laser light sources for the displays are operated mainly under CW, and requested to be highly reliable. In this work, we will present the latest reliability study on high-power 638 nm broad stripe (BS) LD with a window-mirror structure, which is formed by using Zn diffusion into a quantum well active layer. Although the LD showed no catastrophic optical mirror degradation (COMD) even above the output of 1.6 W initially, the LDs aged at output power around 1.0 to 1.5 W showed sudden degradation during 1,000 to 4,000 hours. The duration to the failure became shorter as the power increased. Electro luminescence (EL) imaging revealed that the root cause of the sudden degradation was COMD at the front facet even though the LD had a measure to COMD. The LDs aged at 0.42 W output showed no COMD up to 6500 hours with extremely stable operation. The result also revealed that the mean time to failure due to COMD was proportional to optical density to the power of -3.2. The LDs, which had 60% small power density compared to the former, showed stable one up to 4,000 hours without COMD at 1.25 W. It is clarified that maintaining a low optical output power density is essential to develop high-power and highly reliable red BS-LDs.

Internal degradation of 980 nm emitting single-spatial-mode diode lasers during ultrahigh power operation is investigated for pulsed operation (2 μJ, 20 W). Analysis of the evolution of the emission nearfield with picosecond time resolution enables the observation of the transition from single- to multi-spatial-mode operation at elevated emission powers. Moreover, internal degradation events and subsequent defect propagation processes are in situ monitored by thermal imaging. Subsequently, these devices are opened and defect pattern are inspected by cathodo- and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The results complete earlier findings obtained with broad-area lasers and help to establish models covering defect generation and propagation in edge-emitting devices in general.

A number of groups have studied reliability and degradation processes in GaAs-based lasers, but none of these studies have yielded a reliability model based on the physics of failure. Unsuccessful development of this model originates from the facts that: (i) defects related phenomena responsible for degradation in GaAs-based lasers are difficult to study due to the lack of suitable non-destructive techniques and (ii) degradation process occurs extremely fast after a long period of latency. Therefore, most of laser diode manufacturers perform accelerated multi-cell lifetests to estimate lifetimes of lasers using an empirical model, but this approach is a concern especially for satellite communication systems where high reliability is required of lasers for long-term duration in the space environment. Since it is a challenge to control defects introduced during the growth of laser structures, we studied degradation processes in broad-area InGaAs-AlGaAs strained quantum well (QW) lasers with intrinsic defects as well as those with defects introduced via proton irradiation. For the present study, we investigated the root causes of catastrophic degradation processes in MOCVD-grown broad-area InGaAs-AlGaAs strained QW lasers using various failure mode analysis techniques. A number of lasers were proton irradiated with different energies and fluences. We also studied GaAs double heterostructure (DH) test samples with different amounts of intrinsic defects introduced during MOCVD growth. These samples were proton irradiated as well to introduce additional defects. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and time resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL) techniques were employed to study traps (due to point defects) and non-radiative recombination centers (NRCs) in pre- and poststressed lasers, respectively. These characteristics were compared with those in pre- and post-proton irradiated lasers and DHs to study the role that defects and NRCs play in catastrophic degradation processes. Lastly, we employed focused ion beam (FIB), electron beam induced current (EBIC), and high resolution TEM (HR-TEM) techniques to study dark line defects and crystal defects in both post-aged and post-proton irradiated lasers.

High powered laser diodes are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from telecommunications to industrial applications. Copper microchannel coolers (MCCs) utilizing high velocity, de-ionized water coolant are used to maintain diode temperatures in the recommended range to produce stable optical power output and control output wavelength. However, aggressive erosion and corrosion attack from the coolant limits the lifetime of the cooler to only 6 months of operation. Currently, gold plating is the industry standard for corrosion and erosion protection in MCCs. However, this technique cannot perform a pin-hole free coating and furthermore cannot uniformly cover the complex geometries of current MCCs involving small diameter primary and secondary channels. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc., presents a corrosion and erosion resistant coating (ANCER^TM) applied by a vapor phase deposition process for enhanced protection of MCCs. To optimize the coating formation and thickness, coated copper samples were tested in 0.125% NaCl solution and high purity de-ionized (DIW) flow loop. The effects of DIW flow rates and qualities on erosion and corrosion of the ANCER^TM coated samples were evaluated in long-term erosion and corrosion testing. The robustness of the coating was also evaluated in thermal cycles between 30°C – 75°C. After 1000 hours flow testing and 30 thermal cycles, the ANCERT^M coated copper MCCs showed a corrosion rate 100 times lower than the gold plated ones and furthermore were barely affected by flow rates or temperatures thus demonstrating superior corrosion and erosion protection and long term reliability.

We have carried out a comprehensive study on 976nm single emitters with different AR coatings (1%, 3%, 4%, and 5%), which have been exposed to optical feedback to investigate damages caused by back-reflected light and how to prevent them. By observing the near-field pattern while varying the probe current, we got information about the influence on filamentation and on peak-power densities with and without external optical feedback. For constant feedback strength, filamentation became more pronounced and more dynamic with increasing current. We observed bistable and chaotic “jumping” of high-intensity filaments. For usual operation currents and external feedback strengths of ≥4%, single emitters with low AR coating show COMDs; their positions correlate with excessive peaking in the near-field pattern. Finally we found that an increasing AR reflectivity depletes the influence of feedback light on the near-field pattern as well as on the emission spectra and lowers the risk of COMD.

A new 100μm aperture, 920nm laser diode chip was developed to improve fiber coupling efficiency and reliability. These chips have been assembled into single-emitter and multi-emitter packages with 105μm diameter fiber-coupled output. The single-emitter package is rated for 12W operation, while the multi-emitter package is rated at 140W. Power conversion efficiency is 50%. Over one year of accelerated active life testing has been completed along with a suite of passive, environmental qualification tests. These pumps have been integrated into 2kW, 4kW, and 6kW fiber laser engines that demonstrate excellent brightness, efficiency, and sheet metal cutting quality and speed.

We report on continued progress in the development of high power and high brightness single emitter laser diodes from 790 nm to 980 nm for reliable use in industrial and pumping applications. High performance has been demonstrated in nLIGHT’s diode laser technology in this spectral range with corresponding peak electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency of ~65%. These pumps have been incorporated into nLIGHT’s fiber-coupled pump module, elementTM. We report the latest updates on performance and reliability of chips and fiber-coupled modules. This paper also includes a new chip design with significantly narrower slow-axis divergence which enables further improved reliable power and brightness. Preliminary reliability assessment data for these devices will be presented here as well.

High-power broad area lasers at 1180 nm were developed based on strained InGaAs quantum wells. The lasers feature a lifetime of more than 1200 h at 1 W and are believed to be a key component for the manufacturing of miniaturized laser modules in the yellow and orange spectrum by single-pass second harmonic generation to bridge the spectral region currently not accessible with direct emitting diode lasers. Future applications are laser cooling of sodium, high resolution glucose content measurements as well as spectroscopy on rare earth elements.

In this paper we report the development of a new fiber-coupled diode laser for pumping applications capable of generating 25 kW with four wavelengths. The delivery fiber has 2.0 mm core diameter and 0.22 NA resulting in a Beam Parameter Product (BPP) of 220 mm mrad. To achieve the specifications mentioned above a novel beam transformation technique has been developed combining two high power laser stacks in one common module. After fast axis collimation and beam reformatting a beam with a BPP of 200 mm mrad x 40 mm mrad in the slow and fast-axis is generated. Based on this architecture a customer-specific pump laser with 25 kW optical output power has been developed, in which two modules are polarization multiplexed for each wavelength (980nm, 1020nm, 1040m and 1060nm). After slow-axis collimation these wavelengths are combined using dense wavelength coupling before focusing onto the fiber endface. This new laser is based on a turn-key platform, allowing straight-forward integration into any pump application. The complete system has a footprint of less than 1.4m² and a height of less than 1.8m. The laser diodes are water cooled, achieve a wall-plug efficiency of up to 60%, and have a proven lifetime of <30,000 hours. The new beam transformation techniques open up prospects for the development of pump sources with more than 100kW of optical output power.

We present a compact High-Power DenseWavelength Division Multiplexer (HP-DWDM) based on Volume Bragg Gratings (VBGs) for spectrally stabilized diode lasers with a low average beam quality M² ≤50. The center wavelengths of the five input channels with a spectral spacing of 1.5 nm are 973 nm, 974.5 nm, 976 nm, 977.5 nm and 979 nm. Multiplexing efficiencies of 97%±2% have been demonstrated with single mode, frequency stabilized laser radiation. Since the diffraction efficiency strongly depends on the beam quality, the multiplexing efficiency decreases to 94% (M² = 25) and 85%±3% (M² = 45) if multimode radiation is overlaid. Besides, the calculated multiplexing efficiency of the radiation with M² = 45 amounts to 87:5 %. Thus, calculations and measurements are in good agreement. In addition, we developed a dynamic temperature control for the multiplexing VBGs which adapts the Bragg wavelengths to the diode laser center wavelengths. In short, the prototype with a radiance of 70GWm^-2 sr^-1 consists of five spectrally stabilized and passively cooled diode laser bars with 40Woutput after beam transformation. To achieve a good stabilization performance ELOD (Extreme LOw Divergence) diode laser bars have been chosen in combination with an external resonator based on VBGs. As a result, the spectral width defined by 95% power inclusion is < 120pm for each beam source across the entire operating range from 30 A to 120 A. Due to the spectral stabilization, the output power of each bar decreases in the range of < 5 %.

Advances in high performance fiber coupled diode lasers continue to enable new applications as well as strengthen existing uses through progressive improvements in power and brightness [1]. These improvements are most notable in multi-kW direct diode systems and kW fiber laser platforms that effectively transform better beam quality into superior system performance and in DPSS (Diode pumped solid state) application striving to scale TEM00 (fundamental transverse mode) power. We report on our recent single-emitter based fiber-coupled product platform, the elementTM, that addressed these applications at 8xx/9xx nm with optical powers over 200W in a range of fiber core sizes down to 105um and 0.14NA (Numerical Aperture). The product is a culmination of numerous packaging improvements: improving wall plug efficiencies (~50% electrical-to-optical) while improving volume manufacturability, enabling lower costs, improving usable chip brightness by, < 20% over previous generation chips, and increasing the reliable output power to 15W per chip. We additionally report on current developments to extend the power of the product platform to as high as 300W. This will be realized primarily through new chip architectures projected to further increase the useable chip brightness by an additional 20 % and correspondingly scaling reliable output powers. Second order improvements are proposed in packaging enhancements that capitalize on the increased chip power and brightness as well as expand the package’s thermal capabilities. Finally, an extended performance roadmap will translate expected power advances and increasing volumes into a projection of relative $/W decreases over the next several years.

We propose and demonstrate a coherently combined mini laser bar of six angled-grating broad-area lasers with near diffraction-limited beam quality. The combined laser system is fully integrated without any external components or feedback control. In our design, adjacent angled-grating broad-area lasers have opposite tilting angles and overlap around the facet. The coherent beam combining is obtained through the Bragg diffraction in the overlapped areas. The near diffractionlimited interference pattern in the far field shows that good spatial coherence is obtained among all six individual lasers. The optical spectra of each output aperture are measured and exhibit the same lasing wavelengths.

High power, high brightness diode lasers are beginning to challenge solid state lasers, i.e. disk and fiber lasers. The core technologies for brightness scaling of diode lasers are optical stacking and dense spectral combining (DSC), as well as improvements of the diode material. Diode lasers will have the lowest cost of ownership, highest efficiency and most compact design among all lasers. In our modular product design tens of single emitters are combined in a compact package and launched into a 200 μm fiber with 0.08 NA. Dense spectral combining enables power scaling from 80 W to kilowatts. Volume Bragg Gratings and dichroic filters yield high optical efficiencies of more than 80% at low cost. Each module emits up to 500 W with a beam quality of 5.5 mm*mrad and less than 20 nm linewidth. High speed switching power supplies are integrated into the module and rise times as short as 6 μs have been demonstrated. Fast control algorithms based on FPGA and embedded microcontroller ensure high wall plug efficiency with a unique control loop time of only 30 μs. Individual modules are spectrally combined to result in direct diode laser systems with kilowatts of output power at identical beam quality. For low loss fiber coupling a 200 μm fiber is used and the NA is limited to 0.08 corresponding to a beam quality of 7.5 mm*mrad. The controller architecture is fully scalable without sacrificing loop time. We leverage automated manufacturing for cost effective, high yield production. A precision robotic system handles and aligns the individual fast axis lenses and tracks all quality relevant data. Similar technologies are also deployed for dense spectral combining aligning the VBG and dichroic filters. Operating at wavelengths between 900 nm and 1100 nm, these systems are mainly used in cutting and welding, but the technology can also be adapted to other wavelength ranges, such as 793 nm and 1530 nm. Around 1.5 μm the diodes are already successfully used for resonant pumping of Erbium lasers.[1] Optimized spectral combining enables further improvements in spectral brightness and power.

Laser systems based on spectral beam combining (SBC) of broad-area (BA) diode lasers are promising tools for material processing applications. However, the system brightness is limited by the in-plane beam param- eter product, BPP, of the BA lasers, which operate with a BPP of < 3mm-mrad. The EU project BRIDLE (www.bridle.eu) is developing novel diode laser sources for such systems, and several technological advances are sought. For increased system brightness and optimal ber-coupling the diode lasers should operate with reduced BPP and vertical far eld angle (95% power content), μV 95. The resulting diode lasers are fabricated as mini- bars for reduced assembly costs. Gratings are integrated into the mini-bar, with each laser stripe emitting at a different wavelength. In this way, each emitter can be directed into a single bre via low-cost dielectric filters. Distributed-feedback narrow-stripe broad-area (DFB-NBA) lasers are promising candidates for these SBC sys- tems. We review here the design process and performance achieved, showing that DFB-NBA lasers with stripe width, W = 30 μm, successfully cut of higher-order lateral modes, improving BPP. Uniform, surface-etched, 80th-order Bragg gratings are used, with weak gratings essential for high e ciency. To date, such DFB-NBA sources operate with < 50% effciency at output power, Pout < 6 W, with BPP < 1.8 mm-mrad and offV 95 36 . The emission wavelength is about 970 nm and the spectral width is < 0.7 nm (95% power). The BPP is half that of a DFB-BA lasers with W = 90 um. We conclude with a review of options for further performance improvements.

The demand for high-power and high-brightness fiber coupled diode laser devices is mainly driven by applications for solid-state laser pumping and materials processing. The ongoing power scaling of fiber lasers requires scalable fibercoupled diode laser devices with increased power and brightness. In particular, applications and technologies that demand a high degree of mobility, such as airborne or field transportable systems, also require a robust and extremely lightweight design. We have developed a scalable and modular diode laser architecture that combines high-power, high-brightness, and low weight that fulfills these requirements for a multitude of applications. At the heart of the concept is a specially tailored diode laser bar with an epitaxial and lateral structure designed such that only standard fast- and slow-axis collimator lenses are required to couple the beam into a 200μm core fiber with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.22. To fulfill the requirements of scalability and modularity, a reduced size heat sink populated with multiple tailored bars is used. This enables a compact and lightweight design with minimum beam path length. The design concept is capable of providing single wavelength, high-power laser diode modules, with optional volume holographic gratings for wavelength stabilization. Modules with output power levels of more than one kW at a power-to-weight ratio of less than 1 kg/kW are achievable. In this paper, two laser modules based on this concept are presented. The optical output power is above 500W at a module weight less than 500g and 300W at 300g. Both modules are coupled into a 200μm, 0.22NA fiber.

Four different external resonator concepts including VBGs for spectral stabilization of HPDLs are modelled and numerically evaluated to be compared to each other with respect to stabilization efficiency and sensitivity to the “smile-error". The coupled resonators including the external system and the diode laser are solved with a Fox-Li approach. The paper gives a brief summary about the applied simulation model and proceeds with the results for the different feedback concepts. The effective reflectivity, losses in the optical system, losses due to the back-coupling into the waveguide and the averaged optical confinement factor are calculated.

Dense array slab-coupled optical waveguide lasers (DASCOWLs) consist of several hundred single-mode SCOWL lasers on a monolithic bar. Near diffraction-limited output of the SCOWLs is preserved with spacing down to 40μm. Greater than 200W CW operation of a 4% FF, 100-element, 100μm-pitch, centimeter wide DASCOWL bar has been demonstrated, corresponding to <2W/emitter in array format. We have also demonstrated near 500W continuous wave (CW) operation from a 10% fill factor (FF) 1-cm wide, 1cm long DASCOWL bar which contains 250 emitters, with a 40μm pitch. The goal of 2W/emitter, 500W/bar represents a 5X increase above the conventional 10-emitter, 10% FF broad area laser diode bar that operates at 10W/100μm-emitter. Some of the reported DASCOWL performance benefits from SRL’s low thermal resistance EPIC heat sinks.

Fiber-coupled laser diodes have become essential sources for fiber laser pumping and direct energy applications. Single emitters offer reliable multi-watt output power from a 100 m lateral emission aperture. By their combination and fiber coupling, pump powers up to 100 W can be achieved from a low-NA fiber pigtail. Whilst in the 9xx nm spectral range the single emitter technology is very mature with <10W output per chip, at 800nm the reliable output power from a single emitter is limited to 4 W – 5 W. Consequently, commercially available fiber coupled modules only deliver 5W – 15W at around 800nm, almost an order of magnitude down from the 9xx range pumps. To bridge this gap, we report our advancement in the brightness and reliability of 800nm single emitters. By optimizing the wafer structure, laser cavity and facet passivation process we have demonstrated QCW device operation up to 19W limited by catastrophic optical damage to the 100 μm aperture. In CW operation, the devices reach 14 W output followed by a reversible thermal rollover and a complete device shutdown at high currents, with the performance fully rebounded after cooling. We also report the beam properties of our 800nm single emitters and provide a comparative analysis with the 9xx nm single emitter family. Pump modules integrating several of these emitters with a 105 μm / 0.15 NA delivery fiber reach 35W in CW at 808 nm. We discuss the key opto-mechanical parameters that will enable further brightness scaling of multi-emitter pump modules.

We report on GaAlInAs/GaAs lasers manufactured by the industry’s biggest production MBE tool. This MBE reactor allows for growth on 23 three-inch diameter wafers at a time, at a cost that compares favorably with the MOCVD method. Data on chip-on-submount performance and uniformity across the entire MBE-growth area are presented and compared to the quality of material produced by smaller size production MBE tools. We also present data on performance characteristics of spatially combined fiber coupled passively cooled single emitter-based pumps. The data include performance characteristics of devices operating at ~805nm and ~975nm wavelengths when driven in CW, QCW and pulsed modes; both pumps use ~105μm core diameter fiber to launch power confined within NA<0.15.

Currently, a new generation of ultra-high-energy laser systems (ELI, HILASE) is in development that requires huge amounts of pump power. Their diode laser pump sources should be low cost ($/W) and operate with the highest power conversion efficiency E. One way to increase both output power and efficiency is to lower the operating temperature. We present latest results of detailed design investigations into 9xx nm, AlGaAs based broad-area devices, specifically targeting low temperature (200K) operation. We show experimentally that decreasing temperature reduces threshold current and increases internal efficiency. However, the series resistance RS increases, limiting the net benefit especially at high powers. To address this limitation, the impact of aluminum content in the diode laser AlGaAs waveguide has been studied using 100 μm wide devices mounted p-up on CuW. Near room temperature, structures with low Al-content in the waveguide have poor optical performance, due to high carrier leakage. However at temperatures around 200K, carrier leakage is shown to be strongly suppressed, eliminating the low-aluminum performance penalty of a higher threshold and lower slope efficiency. Simultaneously R_S is strongly decreased for low Al-content structures. Overall, we show that optimized designs should enable single 100 μm broad-area lasers to operate at 200K with E = 72% at 20 W output power, corresponding to about 1.5 kW from a bar with 75% fill-factor.

Recent advances in thermal management and improvements in fabrication and facet passivation enabled extracting unprecedented optical powers from laser diodes (LDs). However, even in the absence of thermal roll-over or catastrophic optical damage (COD), the maximum achievable power is limited by optical non-linear effects. Due to its non-linear nature, two-photon absorption (TPA) becomes one of the dominant factors that limit efficient extraction of laser power from LDs. In this paper, theoretical and experimental analysis of TPA in high-power broad area laser diodes (BALD) is presented. A phenomenological optical extraction model that incorporates TPA explains the reduction in optical extraction efficiency at high intensities in BALD bars with 100μm-wide emitters. The model includes two contributions associated with TPA: the straightforward absorption of laser photons and the subsequent single photon absorption by the holes and electrons generated by the TPA process. TPA is a fundamental limitation since it is inherent to the LD semiconductor material. Therefore scaling the LDs to high power requires designs that reduce the optical intensity by increasing the mode size.

We report results on 1060 nm GaAs/GaAlAs–based Tilted Wave Lasers employing multiple InGaAs quantum wells without strain compensation as active medium. The devices are edge–emitting lasers composed of a thin active waveguide optically coupled to a thick passive waveguide responsible to form a tilted optical wave that results in two narrow lobes in the vertical far field profile of the emitted laser light. Devices with different thicknesses of the passive waveguide have been fabricated. The laser with the 26 μm–thick waveguide has low internal losses of 1.4 cm^–1, reaches for the as cleaved facets device with 1.5 mm–long cavity the differential efficiency of 81%. The 50 μm broad area device demonstrates the maximum wall–plug efficiency in the continuous wave (cw) mode ~50% and the linear output power up to and above 4 W. The laser light is concentrated in two narrow vertical beams, each 2° full width at half maximum in a good agreement with theory.

We report on our recent developments at II-VI Laser Enterprise of laser diode sources for the 79x nm range. High power conversion efficiency in excess of 62% was demonstrated. For high power applications like Thulium fiber laser pumping we have achieved an output power of more than 12.5W in CW operation for 94 μm wide broad-area single-emitters. We added the functionality of wavelength stabilization to the laser diodes by using a distributed feedback grating (DFB). Locking has been obtained over the full current range between 1A and 4A tested so far with some margin for temperature variation. For efficient fiber laser pumping the laser diodes were integrated in a multi-emitter platform, achieving 38 W out of a 105 μm fiber within 0.15 NA.

We present our latest experimental results in wavelength stabilization of high power laser diode systems by using Volume Holographic (Bragg) Gratings. Such systems are used as optical pumps to increase the efficiency and brightness of Thin Disk Lasers. To achieve a wide locking range from threshold until maximum operation current (for example from 30A to 250A), careful control of laser system alignment is necessary to ensure effective feedback and locking, without using strong gratings which could reduce laser efficiency. For this purpose, we use wavefront correction optics to compensate for laser bar smile and Fast Axis Collimation pointing errors. We reduce the pointing errors from ~ 1 mrad to an average under 0.1 mrad across the bar and across the entire stack. Time resolved spectra are used to investigate the dynamic locking behavior with the goal of achieving a locking speed comparable to the rise time of the current (100 μs). Experimental results for multi-kW laser systems are presented, both in CW and soft pulsed operation modes.

High-power laser bars and laser arrays are attractive light sources for many industrial applications such as direct material processing or as pump sources for solid state and fiber lasers. There is also a great interest in quasi-CW laser bars for laser ignition and fusion applications. These applications require a continuous improvement of laser diodes for reliable operation at high output powers densities and simultaneously high electrical-to-optical efficiencies. JENOPTIK presents an overview of recent progress in the development of highly efficient CW and quasi-CW laser devices emitting in a wide wavelength range between 880 nm and 1020 nm. Laser arrays emitting in the wavelength range 915 nm to 976 nm exhibit very high efficiencies above 65%. Our technology of new generation 940 nm high fill-factor bars has been currently extended to emission wavelength of 1020 nm with excellent results: 200 W output power with 63% efficiency using passively cooled heatsinks. Additionally, performances of high brightness low fill-factor laser bars with resonator lengths of 4 mm are shown. The innovative design of the laser structure enables, moreover, the realization of 500 W - 880 nm quasi-CW laser bars with wall-plug efficiencies of 55% and a narrow fast-axis divergence angle of 40° (95% power content).

For high brightness direct diode laser systems, it is of fundamental importance to improve the slow axis beam quality of the incorporated laser diodes regardless what beam combining technology is applied. To further advance our products in terms of increased brightness at a high power level, we must optimize the slow axis beam quality despite the far field blooming at high current levels. The later is caused predominantly by the built-in index step in combination with the thermal lens effect. Most of the methods for beam quality improvements reported in publications sacrifice the device efficiency and reliable output power. In order to improve the beam quality as well as maintain the efficiency and reliable output power, we investigated methods of influencing local heat generation to reduce the thermal gradient across the slow axis direction, optimizing the built-in index step and discriminating high order modes. Based on our findings, we have combined different methods in our new device design. Subsequently, the beam parameter product (BPP) of a 10% fill factor bar has improved by approximately 30% at 7 W/emitter without efficiency penalty. This technology has enabled fiber coupled high brightness multi-kilowatt direct diode laser systems. In this paper, we will elaborate on the methods used as well as the results achieved.

The active alignment of fast axis collimator lenses (FAC) is the most challenging part in the manufacturing process of optical systems based on high power diode laser bars. This is due to the high positioning accuracy in up to 5 degrees of freedom and the complex relations between FAC misalignment and properties of the resulting power density distribution. In this paper an experimental approach for FAC alignment automation is presented. The alignment algorithm is derived from a beam propagation model based on wave optics. The model delivers explicit relations between FAC misalignment and properties of the distorted power density distribution in the near and far field. The model allows to calculate the FAC misalignments and to correct them in one or multiple steps. The alignment algorithm is tested with a demonstrator system. The demonstrator contains an optical system which allows a real time analysis of the near field and far field power distribution of individual emitters. For the tests two different types of FAC lenses and high power diode laser bars are used. The FAC lenses are prealigned within a range of ±50 μm and 0.5 degree around the suitable position. During the automated alignment process the translational and rotational remaining misalignment and the properties of the far field power density distribution are recorded. The experimental results are evaluated regarding reliability and flexibility of the presented FAC alignment algorithm.

Many laser applications require a circular, astigmatism-free, diffraction limited, high power beam. A tapered laser diode can generate up to 6 W output power in a diffraction limited beam. However the beam is elliptical and highly astigmatic rendering the design of beam shaping challenging. We present a diffraction limited beam shaping design, especially suitable to circularize and collimate highly astigmatic beams. The setup consists of a simple plano-convex cylindrical lens in the aplanatic condition and an asphere. The first lens matches the divergence of the fast- to the slow axis at the point where the beam is circular while the following asphere collimates the beam. The aplanatic condition is fulfilled by choosing a glass with a specific refractive index depending on the ratio between fast- and slow axis divergence. This cylindrical lens introduces neither spherical error nor primary coma, which makes it insensitive to misalignment. The setup has been tested with a high power laser diode at 980 nm with a 6 mm long taper (angle 6°) and a facet width of 425 μm. The optics have a transmission of about 90% and the resulting beam has a M² < 1.5. As a proof of principle 3.2 W were coupled into a 15 μm (NA 0.06) LMA fiber with 55% efficiency corresponding to a brightness B = 140 MW/(cm² sr). Furthermore the presented beam shaping can easily be extended to bars or multiple emitters to reach power levels that are to date only achievable with complex wavelength combination techniques.

Diode lasers are gaining importance, making their way to higher output powers along with improved BPP. The assembly of micro-optics for diode laser systems goes along with the highest requirements regarding assembly precision. Assembly costs for micro-optics are driven by the requirements regarding alignment in a submicron and the corresponding challenges induced by adhesive bonding. For micro-optic assembly tasks a major challenge in adhesive bonding at highest precision level is the fact, that the bonding process is irreversible. Accordingly, the first bonding attempt needs to be successful. Today’s UV-curing adhesives inherit shrinkage effects crucial for submicron tolerances of e.g. FACs. The impact of the shrinkage effects can be tackled by a suitable bonding area design, such as minimal adhesive gaps and an adapted shrinkage offset value for the specific assembly parameters. Compensating shrinkage effects is difficult, as the shrinkage of UV-curing adhesives is not constant between two different lots and varies even over the storage period even under ideal circumstances as first test results indicate. An up-to-date characterization of the adhesive appears necessary for maximum precision in optics assembly to reach highest output yields, minimal tolerances and ideal beamshaping results. Therefore, a measurement setup to precisely determine the up-to-date level of shrinkage has been setup. The goal is to provide necessary information on current shrinkage to the operator or assembly cell to adjust the compensation offset on a daily basis. Impacts of this information are expected to be an improved beam shaping result and a first-time-right production.

We report on the development of the latest generation of high power laser diodes at 14xx nm wavelength range suitable for industrial applications such as plastics welding and medical applications including acne treatment, skin rejuvenation and surgery. The paper presents the newest chip generation developed at II-VI Laser Enterprise, increasing the output power and the power conversion efficiency while retaining the reliability of the initial design. At an emission wavelength around 1440 nm we applied the improved design to a variety of assemblies exhibiting maximum power values as high as 7 W for broad-area single emitters. For 1 cm wide bars on conductive coolers and for bars on active micro channel coolers we have obtained 50 W and 72 W in continuous wave (cw) operation respectively. The maximum power measured for a 1 cm bar operated with 50 μs pulse width and 0.01% duty cycle was 184 W, demonstrating the potential of the chip design for optimized cooling. Power conversion efficiency values as high as 50% for a single emitter device and over 40% for mounted bars have been demonstrated, reducing the required power budget to operate the devices. Both active and conductive bar assembly configurations show polarization purity greater than 98%. Life testing has been conducted at 95 A, 50% duty cycle and 0.5 Hz hard pulsed operation for bars which were soldered to conductive copper CS mounts using our hard solder technology. The results after 5500 h, or 10 million “on-off” cycles show stable operation.

We report on the performance of our high power and high efficiency 14xx nm lasers in different formats as packaged on conduction cooled packages using soft solder. Single emitters exhibited output powers as high as 6 watts, while six emitter minibars output 20 W, and 20% fill factor (ff) bars provided over 40 W of output power. In all cases the maximum conversion efficiency was greater than 40% and the maximum power achievable was limited by thermal rollover. These same 20% ff bars output close to 90 W when operated quasi CW (QCW). Preliminary life testing of these bars for over 5000 hours under constant current mode has shown no significant degradation.

There is increasing market demand for high power reliable red lasers for display and cinema applications. Due to the fundamental material system limit at this wavelength range, red diode lasers have lower efficiency and are more temperature sensitive, compared to 790-980 nm diode lasers. In terms of reliability, red lasers are also more sensitive to catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD) due to the higher photon energy. Thus developing higher power-reliable red lasers is very challenging. This paper will present nLIGHT’s released red products from 639 nm to 690nm, with established high performance and long-term reliability. These single emitter diode lasers can work as stand-alone singleemitter units or efficiently integrate into our compact, passively-cooled Pearl™ fiber-coupled module architectures for higher output power and improved reliability. In order to further improve power and reliability, new chip optimizations have been focused on improving epitaxial design/growth, chip configuration/processing and optical facet passivation. Initial optimization has demonstrated promising results for 639 nm diode lasers to be reliably rated at 1.5 W and 690nm diode lasers to be reliably rated at 4.0 W. Accelerated life-test has started and further design optimization are underway.

In this paper we report on the further progress of fiber coupled high power diode lasers in the visible spectral range with regard to beam quality and spectral characteristics. Improved beam shaping concepts allow coupling of red and blue diode lasers into smaller fibers. For medical applications beam sources with narrow wavelength distribution in the blue spectral region were developed. Modules up to 100W in a 400μm NA0.22 fiber were realized. Progress in manufacturing technologies allows for coupling of more than 25W into a 200μm NA0.22 fiber in the blue wavelength range.

There is great interest in the development of high-power, high-efficiency and low cost QCW 88x-nm diode laser bars and arrays for pumping solid state lasers. We report on the development of kW 88x-nm diode laser bars that are based on a bipolar cascade design, in which multiple lasers are epitaxially grown in electrical series on a single substrate. Multiple laser junctions, each of which is based on nLight’s high performance 88x-nm epitaxial design, are separated by low resistance tunnel junctions with resistance as low as 8.0x10^-6 Ω-cm². Optimization of bar geometry and wafer fabrication processes was explored for electrical and optical performance improvement in double-junction diode lasers. A QCW power of 630 W was demonstrated in a 3-mm wide mini-bar with 3-mm cavity length. Peak efficiency of 61% was measured with 200 s and 14 Hz pulses, at a heatsink temperature of 10 °C. Further power scaling was demonstrated in a 1-cm wide bar with 3-mm cavity length, where a record high peak power of 1.77 kW was measured at 1 kA drive current. Ongoing work for further power scaling includes development of triple-junction diode laser bars and double-junction bar-stack that emits < 10kW optical power.

High power 9xxnm QCW- pump modules are very interesting for high- and ultra-high-energy laser systems. Main relevant issues beside price and power conversion efficiency are long term stability of the mounting scheme and stable fiber coupling. We present a design based on diode laser stacks with lateral heat removal. A single stack element consists of a diode laser, which is soldered on both sides to CuW carriers using AuSn. Life test over 1000 h showed no degradation. DCB coolers are subsequently soldered onto both outer sides of the stack. The thermal resistance of a single stack element is about 1.7 K/W. For >3 J pulse energy the stack contains 28 elements. ≥60% power conversion efficiency of the used 940 nm diode laser chips at 120 W output power allows ≥20% duty cycle without substantial heating (maximum measured output power >200 W). The light is collimated in vertical direction for each stack element. We choose a size for the FAC which allows staggering the beams of two stacks. The diode laser chips have an aperture width of 1.2 mm and a lateral divergence <14° (95 % power) at 120 W. Fiber coupling is performed by cylindrical lenses in both directions. For 6 J pump energy two stacks are used, coupled into 1.9 mm diameter fiber with a high optical coupling efficiency of >90 %. The principle design is very flexible to match other demands in fiber size and output power.

In this work, we present a comparative study of high power diode stacks produced by world’s leading manufacturers such as DILAS, Jenoptik, and Quantel. The diode-laser stacks are characterized by central wavelength around 939 nm, duty cycle of 1 %, and maximum repetition rate of 10 Hz. The characterization includes peak power, electrical-to-optical efficiency, central wavelength and full width at half maximum (FWHM) as a function of diode current and cooling temperature. A cross-check of measurements performed at HiLASE-IoP and Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH) shows very good agreement between the results. Our study reveals also the presence of discontinuities in the spectra of two diode stacks. We consider the results presented here a valuable tool to optimize pump sources for ultra-high average power lasers, including laser fusion facilities.

The last few years have seen something of a revolution in automotive lighting facilitated by a range of new photonics advances. The lighting industry as a whole is moving rapidly from the incandescent and gas discharge based technologies that dominated the 20th century to solid state technology in the form of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) which are a point source light, Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) which are an area source light and at the edge the increasing use of lasers with different functional applications. In this paper I will focus on this edge technology of lasers as they are still trying to find their right place in automotive lighting. To better analyze their potential, the working principle of a laser will be explained, laser types used in automotive lighting, their application methods, advantages and disadvantages of their usage will be declared, application examples from the current trials of some leading automotive industry research groups will be given and finalization will be with an overall view of the possible future laser applications in the field of automotive lighting.

Alkali gas lasers based on rubidium vapor have an extremely narrow absorption band (<0.01 nm at STP) at 780 nm. Diode-pumped alkali lasers (DPALs) require high-power diode arrays having emission spectra which are closely matched to this absorption peak. There are several methods which can be used for narrowing and stabilizing the output spectrum of a diode laser bar including external locking via a volumetric holographic grating (VHG). While this approach offers several advantages over internal stabilization techniques, the effect of pointing error arising from bar smile can be detrimental to the locked performance of the lensed array. In order to investigate the effect of smile on wavelength locking, a system capable of mapping the emission spectrum of the lensed diode laser bar was developed. The approach utilizes an imaging system and spatial filter to couple light from individual emitters of the lensed array into a commercial optical spectrum analyzer. This approach offers a larger dynamic range than traditional spectral mapping techniques, with a resolved signal to noise ratio in excess of 60 dB. Results from the characterization of a VHG-locked 780 nm laser bar array will be presented.

In this work, we investigate experimentally coupling of diode laser radiation into a single-mode-fiber (SMF) at high optical power. In particular, nearly diffraction-limited, single-frequency continuous wave (CW) radiation around 1064 nm generated by a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered diode laser is coupled in a bench-top experiment into an SMF with a core diameter of approx. 6 μm. Misalignment tolerances for efficient SMF coupling are determined through two-dimensional coupling efficiency scans, conducted for an attenuated diode laser beam. The coupling efficiency and the laser beam properties behind the SMF are investigated in dependence on the optical power in front of the SMF. A maximum power ex fiber of 3.5 W at a coupling efficiency of 65 % is reached.

A high power single-lateral-mode double-trench ridge waveguide semiconductor laser is reported. The laser has a compressively strained double quantum-well (DQW) and an GaAs/AlGaAs separate confinement structure. The ridge waveguide is defined by two trenches of finite width on either side of the ridge, which will result mode radiation towards outside of the trenches. The relationship between the leakage loss and the waveguide geometry of the each lateral mode is studied with effective index method. The relationship under different bias condition is evaluated. Based on the simulation, lasers with various trench width, trench depth and ridge width are fabricated and tested. With optimized geometry parameters, a laser of 1.5-mm cavity length with a maximum single-lateral-mode operation current of 550 mA is obtained. The threshold current and the slope efficiency of the laser is 30 mA and 0.72 W/A, respectively. The maximum single-lateral-mode power is up to 340 mW.