This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9734, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Novalux Inc was an enterprise founded by Aram Mooradian in 1998 to commercialise a novel electrically pumped vertical extended cavity semiconductor laser platform, initially aiming to produce pump lasers for optical fiber telecommunication networks. Following successful major investment in 2000, the company developed a range of single- and multi-mode 980 nm pump lasers emitting from 100-500 mW with excellent beam quality and efficiency. This rapid development required solution of several significant problems in chip and external cavity design, substrate and DBR mirror optimization, thermal engineering and mode selection. Output coupling to single mode fiber was exceptional. Following the collapse of the long haul telecom market in late 2001, a major reorientation of effort was undertaken, initially to develop compact 60-100 mW hybrid monolithically integrated pumplets for metro/local amplified networks, then to frequency-doubled blue light emitters for biotech, reprographics and general scientific applications.

During 2001-3 I worked at Novalux on a career break from University College Cork, first as R&D Director managing a small group tasked with producing new capabilities and product options based on the NECSEL platform, including high power, pulsed and frequency doubled versions, then in 2002 as Director of New Product Realization managing the full engineering team, leading the transition to frequency doubled products.

We present a simple approach to generate simultaneously two gigahertz mode-locked pulse trains from a single gain element. A bi-refringent crystal in the laser cavity splits the one cavity beam into two cross-polarized and spatially separated beams. This polarization-duplexing is successfully demonstrated for both a semiconductor disk laser (i.e. MIXSEL) and a diode-pumped solid-state Nd:YAG laser. The beat between the two beams results in a microwave frequency comb, which represents a direct link between the terahertz optical frequencies and the electronically accessible microwave regime. This dual-output technique enables compact and cost-efficient dual-comb lasers for spectroscopy applications.

The modelocked integrated external-cavity surface emitting laser (MIXSEL) is the most compact technology of ultrafast semiconductor disk laser, combining in the same epitaxial structure an active region and a saturable absorber for stable and self-starting passive modelocking in a linear straight cavity. Here we present the first MIXSEL structure able to produce sub-300-fs pulses at an average output power of 235 mW and 3.35 GHz pulse repetition rate, resulting in a record-high peak power of 240 W. At 10 GHz repetition rate the same MIXSEL generated 279-fs pulses with 310 mW of average output power. An optimized antireflection coating for dispersion minimization together with a reduced field enhancement inside the structure enabled the sensible improvement and the record performances of this novel MIXSEL. Furthermore, thanks to the development of suitable saturable absorbers with fast recovery dynamics and low saturation fluence, we demonstrate the first entirely MOVPE-grown MIXSEL.

We present a VECSEL based on a gain sample design which utilizes only a single-layer dielectric Al₂O₃ coating for dispersion management. The gain structure generated pulse durations down to 193 fs in combination with a surface-recombination SESAM, with an average power of 400 mW at 1.6 GHz setting a new peak power record for sub-200 fs mode-locked VECSELs. The pulses obtained were, however, 2x transform-limited and a further FROG measurement of a similar laser is presented revealing a linear chirp and cubic spectral phase.

Ultrafast, optically pumped, passively modelocked vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) are excellent sources for industrial and scientific applications that benefit from compact semiconductor based high-power ultrafast lasers with gigahertz repetition rates and excellent beam quality. Applications such as self-referenced frequency combs and multi-photon imaging require sub-200-fs pulse duration combined with high pulse peak power. Here, we present a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) modelocked VECSEL with a pulse duration of 147 fs and 328 W of pulse peak power. The average output power was 100 mW with a repetition rate of 1.82 GHz at a center wavelength of 1034 nm. The laser has optimal beam quality operating in a fundamental transverse mode with a M² value of <1.05 in both orthogonal directions. The VECSEL was grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) with five pairs of strain-compensated InGaAs quantum wells (QWs). The QWs are placed symmetrical around the antinodes of the standing electric field at a reduced average field enhancement in the QWs of ≈ 0.5 (normalized to 4 outside the structure). These results overcome the trade-off between pulse duration and peak power of the state-of-the-art threshold values of 4.35 kW peak power for a pulse duration of 400 fs and 3.3 W peak power for a pulse duration of 107 fs.

Laser technology is finding applications in areas such as high resolution spectroscopy, radar-lidar, velocimetry, or atomic clock where highly coherent tunable high power light sources are required. The Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) technology [1] has been identified for years as a good candidate to reach high power, high coherence and broad tunability while covering a wide emission wavelength range exploiting III-V semiconductor technologies. Offering such performances in the Near- and Middle-IR range, GaAs- and Sb-based VECSEL technologies seem to be a well suited path to meet the required specifications of demanding applications. Built up in this field, our expertise allows the realization of compact and low power consumption marketable products, with performances that do not exist on the market today in the 0.8- 1.1 μm and 2-2.5 μm spectral range.

Here we demonstrate highly coherent broadly tunable single frequency micro-chip, intracavity element free, patented VECSEL technology, integrated into a compact module with driving electronics. VECSEL devices emitting in the Near and Middle-IR developed in the frame of this work [2] exhibit exciting features compared to diode-pumped solid-state lasers and DFB diode lasers; they combine high power (>100mW) high coherence with a low divergence diffraction limited TEM₀₀ beam, class A dynamics with Relative Intensity Noise as low as -140dB/Hz and at shot noise level above 200MHz RF frequency (up to 160GHz), free running narrow linewidth at sub MHz level (fundamental limit at Hz level) with high spectral purity (SMSR >55dB), linear polarization (50dB suppression ratio), and broadband continuous tunability greater than 400GHz (< 30V piezo voltage, 6kHz cut off frequency) with total tunability up to 3THz. Those performances can all be reached thanks to the high finesse cavity of VECSEL technology, associated to ideal homogeneous QW gain behaviour [3]. In addition, the compact design without any movable intracavity elements offers a robust single frequency regime with a long term wavelength stability better than few GHz/h (ambient thermal drift limited).

Those devices surpass the state of the art commercial technologies thanks to a combination of power-coherence wavelength tunability performances and integration.

We take advantage of III-V VeCSEL technology integrating at-photonics for the generation of new coherent states, thanks to insertion of intracavity functions based on at photonics. These new kinds of coherent light states target many applications including optical tweezers, telecommunications, fundamental physics, sensors For this purpose, we extended the VeCSEL semiconductor technology, designing active sections, sub-wavelength metallic masks and photonic crystal, enabling to control the electrical field inside the cavity. This leads to the generation and control of highly coherent single high-order Laguerre- or Hermite-Gauss mode, VORTEX beam carrying controlled orbital-angular-momentum, as well as of coherent dual-frequency wave for THz, and of coherent continuum modeless source.

Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) have been successfully used in the visible and near-infrared to achieve high output power with excellent Gaussian beam quality. However, the concept of VECSEL has been impossible to implement for quantum-cascade (QC) lasers due to the "intersubband selection rule". We have recently demonstrated the first VECSEL in the terahertz range. The enabling component for the QC-VECSEL is an amplifying metasurface reflector composed of a sparse array of metallic sub-cavities, which allows the normally incident radiation to interact with the electrically pumped QC gain medium. In this work, we presented multiple design variations based on the first demonstrated THz QC-VECSEL, regarding the lasing frequencies, the output coupler and the intra-cavity aperture. Our work on THz QC-VECSEL initiates a new approach towards achieving scalable output power in combination with a diffraction-limited beam pattern for THz QC-lasers. The design variations presented in this work further demonstrate the practicality and potential of VECSEL approach to make ideal terahertz QC-laser sources.

Since the invention of VECSELs, their great spectral coverage has been demonstrated and emission wavelengths in the range from UV to almost MIR have been achieved. However, in the infrared regime the laser performance is affected by Auger losses which become significant at large quantum defects. In order to reduce the Auger losses and to develop more efficient devices in the IR, type-II aligned QWs have been suggested as alternative gain medium for semiconductor lasers.

We report a DBR-free semiconductor disk lasers centered at 1160 nm with a tuning range of 78 nm, and ongoing effort on our DBR-free SDL centered at 1040 nm. Compared with conventional semiconductor disk lasers, DBR-free SDLs have a broader effective gain bandwidth. In CW operation, 2.5 W output power at 1160 nm and 6 W at 1055 nm were collected from the two lasers without thermal-rollover. Intracavity loss mitigation, currently underway, should improve power scaling and efficiency in these systems.

In recent years there have been several reports describing self-modelocking (SML) in vertical-external-cavity surfaceemitting lasers (VECSELs). Some of these reports have suggested that the behaviour that has been observed results from nonlinear lensing in the VECSEL gain sample in a manner analogous to Kerr lens modelocking in solid state lasers. However to date none of the groups that have reported SML in VECSELs have performed measurements to ascertain whether nonlinear lensing occurs in the gain sample. Measurements of nonlinear lenses in VECSEL gain samples are therefore of value not only in order to understand the behaviour observed in the reports of SML, but also as a potentially crucial design tool for any mode-locked VECSEL, regardless of the modelocking method used.

In a previous publication we described measurements which demonstrated that a defocusing nonlinear lens was present in an unpumped VECSEL gain sample, and that the inverse focal length of the lens increased with pump power, to the point of becoming a focusing lens for sufficiently high pump powers. Unfortunately, by necessity this measurement was performed using a probe laser which was not resonant with the quantum wells in the sample, meaning that the values measured may well be different from those experienced under operating conditions in a VECSEL. This paper describes a more complete characterisation of VECSEL gain sample nonlinear lensing with a probe laser whose wavelength is resonant with the gain sample quantum wells.

We present a comprehensive characterization of semiconductor gain and absorber devices utilizing novel measurement techniques. Using a 20fs probe laser, a time resolution in the few femtosecond range is achieved in traditional pump and probe measurements performed on VECSELs and SESAMs. In-situ characterizations of VECSEL samples mode-locked in the sub-500fs regime reveal the fast and longtime recoveries of the gain present in real lasing conditions. Spectrally-resolved probing gives further information about the properties of carriers in VECSEL gain media. Our results indicate that stable mode-locked operation is sustained by multiple carrier relaxation mechanisms ranging from a few femtoseconds to the pico- and nanosecond regimes.

We present reflection z-scan measurements of a quantum well VECSEL gain structure under pumped and unpumped conditions. The implications for the design of mode-locked cavities will be discussed; both in relation to SESAM mode-locked lasers and the possibility of self-mode-locking.

Ultrashort laser pulses from vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) have been receiving much attention in the semiconductor laser community since the first demonstration of sub-ps-pulsed devices more than a decade ago. Originally relying on semiconductor saturable-absorber mirrors for pulse formation, mode-locked operation has not only become accessible by using a variety of saturable absorbers, but also by using a saturable-absorber-free technique referred to as self-mode-locking (SML). Here, we highlight achievements in the field of SML-VECSELs with quantum-well and quantum-dot gain chips, and study the influence of a few VECSEL parameters on the assumed nonlinear lensing behavior in the system.

We report intracavity Raman conversion of a long-wavelength InGaAs-QW VECSEL to ~1320 nm, the longest wavelength yet achieved by a VECSEL-pumped Raman laser. The setup consisted of a VECSEL capable of emitting >17W at 1180nm and tunable from 1141-1203nm and a 30-mm-long KGd(WO₄)₂ (KGW) Raman crystal in a coupled-cavity Raman resonator. The Raman cavity was separated from the VECSEL resonator by a tilted dichroic mirror, which steers the Raman beam to an output coupler external to the VECSEL. The spectral emission of the VECSEL, and consequently of the Raman laser, was set by a 4-mm-thick quartz birefringent filter in the VECSEL cavity. The KGW Raman laser was capable of emitting 2.5W at 1315 nm, with M²~2.7 and >4% diode-to-Stokes conversion efficiency. The Raman laser emission was tunable from 1295-1340 nm, limited by the free spectral range of the birefringent filter. Spectral broadening of the fundamental emission was observed during Raman conversion. At the maximum Raman laser output power, the total linewidth of the VECSEL spectrum was ~0:7nm FWHM. As a consequence, the Raman laser emission was also relatively broad (~0.9nm FWHM). Narrow (<0.2nm FWHM) Raman emission was obtained by inserting an additional 100 µm etalon within the VECSEL cavity. With this configuration the fundamental intracavity power clamped at its value at the Raman threshold, suggesting an enhanced effective Raman gain, but the maximum output power of the Raman laser was 1.8 W.

We report on a semiconductor disk laser emitting 1.5 W of output power at the wavelength of 745 nm via intracavity frequency doubling. The high power level and the < 40 nm tuning range make the laser a promising tool for medical treatments that rely on photosensitizing agents and biomarkers in the transmission window of tissue between 700 and 800 nm. The InP-based gain structure of the laser was wafer-fused with a GaAs-based bottom mirror and thermally managed with an intracavity diamond heat spreader. The structure was pumped with commercial low-cost 980 nm laser diode modules. Laser emission at 1490 nm was frequency-doubled with a bismuth borate crystal that was cut for type I critical phase matching. At the maximum output power, we achieved an optical-to-optical efficiency of 8.3% with beam quality parameter M2 below 1.5. The laser wavelength could be tuned with an intracavity birefringent plate from 720 to 764 nm.

Optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSL) offer the advantage of excellent beam quality, wavelength agility, and high power scaling capability. In this talk we will present our recent progress of high-power, 920nm OPSLs frequency doubled to 460nm for lightshow applications. Fundamental challenges and mitigations are revealed through electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical modeling. Results also include beam quality enhancement in addressing the competition from diode lasers.

A high power, two color, collinear, blue and green vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) is demonstrated. Two different InGaAs/GaAs VECSEL chips operating with gain centers near 970 nm and 1070 nm are used to make two separate V-folded laser cavities. Two critically phase-matched intracavity lithium triborate nonlinear crystals are used to generate blue and green outputs which are then combined in a polarizing beam splitter. This results in a single beam which contains over 10 watts of combined blue and green output power. This concept can be expanded upon by adding a red output for the creation of a high power, white laser source.

Using the (AlGaIn)(AsSb) material system, VECSELs covering the 2 – 3 μm wavelength range can be realized. The best laser performance of GaSb-based VECSELs was achieved so far at emission wavelengths around 2.0 μm with a slope efficiency of more than 30 %, a low threshold pump power density of 1.1 kW/cm² at 20°C heatsink temperature and concomitant a high output power exceeding 7 W in CW operation (depending on the mounting technology). These parameters were degrading significantly for longer wavelength devices emitting around 2.5 μm and 2.8 μm. But for applications like the generation of MWIR light (3-8 μm) by pumping ZGP-OPOs, high-power VECSELs around 2.5 μm are required to suppress absorption losses, while for medical laser treatment, high-power operation near the water absorption peak at around 2.9 μm is desirable. We will present results of our ongoing research strand for further optimization of the semiconductor heterostructure design of ≥ 2.5 μm emitting GaSb-based VECSELs. By using a low quantum deficit design (i.e. optical pumping at around 1.5 μm) in combination with highly strained QWs (compressive strain 2.1 %) we were able to realize a 2.5 μm emitting VECSEL with a slope efficiency above 30 %, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency exceeding 50 %, and a low threshold pump power density of 0.8 kW/cm². These values are as good as those for the best performing 2.0 μm VECSELs. With a frontside SiC heatspreader and operated in a standard linear cavity, over 7 W of CW output power were achieved for this 2.5 μm emitting VECSEL structure when operated at 20°C. Furthermore, we will compare laser structures with different emission wavelengths and discuss the role of the QW strain, band-offset and active region composition on laser performance.

The wide range of applications in biophotonics, television or projectors, spectroscopy and lithography made the optically-pumped semiconductor (OPS) vertical external cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) an important category of power scalable lasers. The possibility of bandgap engineering, inserting frequency selective and converting elements into the open laser cavity and laser emission in the fundamental Gaussian mode leads to ongoing growth of the area of applications for tuneable laser sources. We present an AlGaInP-VECSEL system with a multi quantum well structure consisting of compressively strained GaInP quantum wells in an Al_xGa_1-xInP separate confinement heterostructure with an emission wavelength around 665 nm. The VECSEL chip with its n-λ cavity is pumped by a 532nm Nd:YAG laser under an angle to the normal incidence of 50°. In comparison, a gain chip design for high absorption values at pump wavelengths around 640nm with the use of quantum dot layers as active material is also presented. Frequency doubling is now realized with an antireflection coated lithium borate crystal, while a birefringent filter, placed inside the laser cavity under Brewster's angle, is used for frequency tuning. Further, power-scaling methods like in-well pumping as well as embedding the active region of a VECSEL between two transparent ic heaspreaders are under investigation.

Microscopic many-body theory is employed to analyze the mode-locking dynamics of a vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser with a saturable absorber mirror. The quantum-wells are treated microscopically through the semiconductor Bloch equations and the light field using Maxwell's equations. Higher order correlation effects such as polarization dephasing and carrier relaxation at the second Born level are included and also approximated using effective rates fitted to second-Born-Markov evaluations. The theory is evaluated numerically for vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers with resonant periodic gain media. For given gain, the influence of the loss conditions on the very-short pulse generation in the range above 100 fs is analyzed. Optimized operational parameters are identified. Additionally, the fully microscopic theory at the second Born level is used to carrier out a pump-probe study of the carrier recovery in individual critical components of the VECSEL cavity such as the VECSEL chip itself and semiconductor or graphene saturable absorber mirrors.

Recent development of high power femtosecond pulse modelocked VECSEL with gigahertz pulse repetition rates sparked an increased interest from the scientific community due to the broad field of applications for such sources, such as frequency metrology, high-speed optical communication systems or high-resolution optical sampling. To the best of our knowledge, we report for the first time a colliding pulse modelocked VECSEL, where the VECSEL gain medium and a semiconductor saturable absorber (SESAM) are placed inside a ring cavity. This cavity geometry provides both a practical and an efficient way to get optimum performance from a modelocked laser system. The two counter propagating pulses in our ring cavity synchronize in the SESAM because the minimum energy is lost when they saturate the absorber together. This stronger saturation of the absorber increases the stability of the modelocking and reduces the overall losses of the laser for a given intra-cavity fluence, leading to a lower modelocking threshold. This also allows the generation of fundamental modelocking at a relatively low repetition rate (<GHz) with a higher output power compared to conventional VECSEL cavity. We obtained a total output power of 2.2W with an excellent beam quality, a pulse repetition rate of 1GHz and a pulse duration ranging from 1ps to 3ps. The emitted spectrum was centered at 1007nm with a FWHM of 3.1nm, suggesting that shorter pulses can be obtained with adequate dispersion compensation. The laser characteristics such as the pulse duration and stability are studied in detail.

In launching the Dragonfly, M Squared Lasers has successfully commercialized recent advances in mode-locked vertical external cavity surface emitting laser technologies operating between 920 nm – 1050 nm. This paper will describe the latest advances in the development of a new generation of Dragonfly lasers. The improved system has been engineered to utilise low-cost semiconductor gain media and integrated diode pumping, whilst exhibiting minimal footprint, diffraction limited beam quality and low intrinsic noise. Early experiments have resulted in pulses with 540mW of average output power and 150fs of duration at 200MHz pulse repetition frequency.

To date, three types of laser sources have been used to excite mesospheric sodium atoms to use as a sodium guidestar for adaptive optics (AO). All these sources have inherent challenges and a possible fourth source is to utilize a frequencydoubled Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL). Such a VECSEL presents output efficiency above 20% with power in excess of 20 W. Modelling is also presented to validate the efficacy of developing VECSEL guidestar systems for use with current guidestar systems or as a stand-alone guidestar. The model agrees with the data collected with the 3.5 m telescope and narrowband laser guidestar at Starfire Optical Range.

We report a passively mode-locked InGaAs-quantum well VECSEL, emitting a constant pulse train at an average output power of 18 mW and emission wavelength of 1035 nm, with a continuously tunable pulse repetitionfrequency (PRF) between 0.88 - 1.88 GHz. Pulse duration was 230 fs over 80% of that range. Here we propose a technique making use of the demonstrated VECSEL PRF tunability for a resonant frequency-domain pumpprobe spectroscopic technique for acoustic interrogation of nanostructures. Simulation of suitable GHz acoustic resonators to demonstrate this technique is described.

We report a continuous wave operation of a quantum-well and multi-pass-pumped AlGaInP based red vertical-external cavity surface-emitting laser emitting at 660 nm. The laser output power was 1.5 W with a slope efficiency of 35 %. The critical role of optimizing the sample design both for the pump and laser wavelengths, pump spot size, and the number of pump light passes were experimentally investigated.

We report the development of an intracavity-frequency-doubled vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) emitting at 571 nm for photoionization of magnesium. The laser employs a V-cavity geometry with a gain chip at the end of one cavity arm and a lithium triborate (LBO) crystal for second harmonic generation. The gain chip has a bottom-emitting design with ten GaInAs quantum wells of 7 nm thickness, which are strain compensated by GaAsP. The system is capable of producing up to 2.4 ± 0.1 W (total power in two separate output beams) in the visible. The free-running relative intensity noise was measured to be below −55 dBc/Hz over all frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. With acoustic isolation and temperature regulation of the laser breadboard, the mode-hop free operation time is typically over 5 hrs. To improve the long-term frequency stability, the laser can be locked to a Doppler-free transition of molecular iodine. To estimate the short-term linewidth, the laser was tuned to the resonance of a reference cavity. From analysis of the on-resonance Hänsch-Couillaud error signal we infer a linewidth of 50 ± 10 kHz. Light at 285 nm is generated with an external build-up cavity containing a β-barium borate (BBO) crystal. The UV light is used for loading ²⁵Mg⁺ ions in a surface-electrode RF Paul trap. These results demonstrate the applicability and versatility of high-power, single-frequency VECSELs with intracavity harmonic generation for applications in atomic and molecular physics.

Multiphoton imaging (MMPI) has become one of thee key non-invasive light microscopy techniques. This technique allows deep tissue imaging with high resolution and less photo-damage than conventional confocal microscopy. MPI is type of laser-scanning microscopy that employs localized nonlinear excitation, so that fluorescence is excited only with is scanned focal volume. For many years, Ti: sapphire femtosecond lasers have been the leading light sources for MPI applications. However, recent developments in laser sources and new types of fluorophores indicate that longer wavelength excitation could be a good alternative for these applications. Mode-locked VECSEELs have the potential to be low cost, compact light sources for MPI systems, with the additional advantage of broad wavelength coverage through use of different semiconductor material systems. Here, we use a femtosecond fibber laser to investigate the effect average power and repetition rate has on MPI image quality, to allow us to optimize our mode-locked VVECSELs for MPI.

Efficient thermal management is vital for VECSELs, affecting the output power and several aspects of performance of the device. Presently there exist two distinct methods of effective thermal management which both possess their merits and disadvantages. Substrate removal of the VECSEL gain chip has proved a successful method in devices emitting at a wavelength near 1μm. However for other wavelengths the substrate removal technique has proved less effective primarily due to the thermal impedance of the distributed Bragg reflectors. The second method of thermal management involves the use of crystalline heat spreaders bonded to the gain chip surface. Although this is an effective thermal management scheme, the disadvantages are additional loss and the etalon effect that filters the gain spectrum, making mode locking more difficult and normally resulting in multiple peaks in the spectrum. There are considerable disadvantages associated with both methods attributed to heatspreader cost and sample processing. It is for these reasons that a proposed alternative, front surface liquid cooling, has been investigated in this project.

Direct liquid cooling involves flowing a temperature-controlled liquid over the sample’s surface. In this project COMSOL was used to model surface liquid cooling of a VECSEL sample in order to investigate and compare its potential thermal management with current standard thermal management techniques. Based on modelling, experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the performance of the technique. While modelling suggests that this is potentially a mid-performance low cost alternative to existing techniques, experimental measurements to date do not reflect the performance predicted from modelling.

We present a serially-connected two-chip vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser design, which generates dual wavelength emission with a wavelength separation of 10 nm and over 600 W intracavity power. Intracavity type-I second-harmonic generation and sum-frequency generation have been performed in a LiNbO₃ crystal. By employing different chip-combinations as well as birefringent filters, the laser is able to generate high-power emission with two wavelengths, which exhibit the same polarization and a desirable wavelength separation. Furthermore, the dependence of the emission wavelength on the cavity angle on the VECSEL chip is highlighted, which provides an additional means of wavelength tuning in VECSELs.

We demonstrate a low thermal impedance hybrid mirror VECSEL. We used only 14 pairs of AlGaAs/AlAs, transparent at the pump wavelength, and we used a patterned mask to deposit pure gold on areas of the chip to be pumped, and Ti/Au on other area to circumvent the poor adhesion of gold on GaAs. A higher gain is observed on an area metallized with pure gold and an output power of 4W was obtained, showing the effectiveness of the metallic mirror and validating the bonding quality. Chip processing and laser characteristics are studied in detail and compared to simulations.