METHOD FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BEAM QUALITY AND WAVELENGTH STABILIZED OPERATION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE LASER WITH AN EXTENDED WAVEGUIDE

摘要

A method for improving the functionality of a semiconductor diode laser having an extended vertical waveguide, wherein the active medium is located closer to the top cladding layer of the waveguide. The vertical optical modes of the laser include at least one vertical optical mode extended over the entire extended vertical waveguide and at least one vertical optical mode localized at the active medium. The goal of using a laser with an extended vertical waveguide is to obtain lasing in narrow beams with high brightness and/or wavelength stabilized lasing. In both cases lasing in a localized mode is highly undesirable due to the resulting reduced brightness of the device and disadvantages related to the catastrophic optical damage of the mirrors of the facet for the localized mode and needs to be suppressed. Several methods of configuring the tilted wave laser in the longitudinal direction are disclosed. In one embodiment the resonator length (in the longitudinal direction) is specifically selected to be equal to the length of the return path of the tilted wave multiplied by a rational number such that the tilted wave in the extended vertical waveguide forms a closed loop. In this embodiment, the lasing from the narrow waveguide, in which the active medium is located, is suppressed.