Aluminum-Free Semiconductors and Packaging

摘要

The use of laser diodes instead of flashlamps to pump solid state lasers generally results in lighter weight, more compact systems with improved efficiency and reliability. These traits are important to a wide variety of applications in military, industrial and other areas. Common solid state laser systems such as yttrium aluminum garnet doped with neodymium or ytterbium (Nd:YAG and Yb:YAG, respectively) require pump light in the 800 to 1000 nm range, and such laser diodes have typically been fabricated in the AlGaAs material system on a GaAs substrate. Unfortunately, the presence of aluminum in or near the light-generating regions of these devices appears to limit their high-power performance, so for improved performance attention has turned to the aluminum-free (''Al-free'') material system of InGaAsP on a GaAs substrate. Laser diodes in this system offer the wavelength coverage similar to the AlGaAs/GaAs material system, and early results suggest that they may offer improved high-power performance. However, such Al-free diodes are more challenging to manufacture than AlGaAs-based devices. The goal of this LDRD project has been to evaluate Al-free diode technology in comparison with conventional AlGaAs-based structures for use in diode-pumped solid state lasers. This has been done by testing commercially available devices, surveying the literature, developing in-house capability in order to explore new device designs, and by engaging a leading university research group in the field.