Heating of the front and rear facets of GaAlAs/GaAs edge emitting laser diodes

摘要

Abstract: Gradual degradation and catastrophical optical damage (COD) of the facets is one of the main reasons limiting output power and lifetime of diode lasers. The facets undergo a strongly localized intense heating caused by nonradiative surface recombination of carriers. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the temperature rise at the facets of an asymmetrically coated 20-stripe GaAs/GaAlAs laser diode array. We examine the effect of the asymmetric thermal load of the facets and evaluate the role of reabsorption of photons under different conditions. It is suggested that COD occurs at the reflection-coated facet of this device. !28