Broad-stripe near-diffraction-limited mid-infrared laser with a second-order photonic-crystal distributed feedback grating

Electron-beam lithography was used to pattern a second-order photonic-crystal distributed feedback grating onto an antimonide type-II "W" laser emitting at /spl lambda//spl ap/3.7 /spl mu/m. For pulsed optical pumping, the output beam was essentially diffraction-limited up to a stripe width of 150 /spl mu/m, and remained no worse than eight times the diffraction limit for stripes as wide as 600 /spl mu/m. This represents a considerable improvement over all previous mid-infrared semiconductor lasers with such broad stripes.     

High-performance laser diodes with emission wavelengths above 1100 nm and very small vertical divergence of the far field

The effect of variations in the vertical structure on the performance of AlGaAs-GaAs laser diodes with an InGaAs quantum well (QW) emitting around 1120 nm was investigated. With very thick waveguide layers, more than 95% of the output power is enclosed in an angle smaller than 35/spl deg/. This allows the use of fast axis collimators with a small numerical aperture. Broad area laser diodes with 100-/spl mu/m stripe width, an optimized doping profile, and a double QW emit more than 12 W and show reliable operation at 5 W.     

Room-temperature operation of InP-based InAs quantum dot laser

A ridge waveguide quantum dot (QD) laser with a stripe width of 15 /spl mu/m was fabricated by using the seven-stacked InAs QD layers based on the InAlGaAs-InAlAs material system on InP [001] substrate. Room-temperature lasing operation was observed at 1.501 /spl mu/m, which is the first observation from the InAs QDs with the InAlGaAs-InAlAs structure. The characteristic temperature of the InAs QD laser calculated from the temperature dependence of threshold current density was 135 K in the temperature range from 200 K to room temperature.     

Room-temperature 2.81-/spl mu/m continuous-wave operation of GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb laser

GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb multiple quantum-well (QW) lasers with an emission wavelength of 2.81 /spl mu/m are reported. The ridge waveguide lasers with highly strained QWs show continuous-wave laser emission up to 25/spl deg/C; in pulsed mode, the lasers operate up to 60/spl deg/C. For pulsed operation, a threshold current density of 360 A/cm/sup 2/ is found for devices with 30-/spl mu/m stripe width and 2-mm cavity length at room temperature. A low threshold current density at infinite length of 248 A/cm/sup 2/ is derived.     

High power GaInP/AlGaInP visible lasers (/spl lambda/=646 nm) with narrow circular shaped far-field pattern

GaInP/AlGaInP visible lasers based on a longitudinal photonic bandgap crystal waveguide emitting at 646 nm show narrow circular shaped far field pattern. Vertical and lateral beam divergence of about 8/spl deg/ (full width at half maximum) that is independent of injection current is demonstrated. Differential quantum efficiency is up to 85%. Pulsed total optical output power is as high as 20 W for 100 /spl mu/m-wide stripe lasers and 6 W for 20 /spl mu/m-wide stripe lasers. Such values of output optical power are 2.5 higher with respect to ones obtained for the lasers fabricated from the state-of-the-art epiwafers for commercial 650 nm range DVD lasers.     

Fabrication of V-grooved inner stripe GaAs-AlGaAs quantum-wire lasers

V-grooved inner stripe (VIS) GaAs-AlGaAs quantum-wire (QWR) lasers were successfully fabricated by, combining two-step metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth with a wet-etching technique. In order to achieve low threshold current density and high reliability, a conductive stripe width (W), a thickness (t/sub p-CBL/), and a doping concentration (n/sub p-CBL/) of the p-GaAs current-blocking layer (CBL) were determined to be W=1.2 /spl mu/m, t/sub p-CBL/=2 /spl mu/m, and n/sub p-CBL/=1/spl times/10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/. The leakage currents passing through the CBL were also estimated using a modified P-SPICE. Thus far, a threshold current of 45 mA and an output power of 4 mW at 51 mA have been achieved under room-temperature pulsed operation for some devices with uncoated facets.     

Rhombus-like stripe BA InGaAs-AlGaAs-GaAs lasers

A 1.5-W continuous-wave power output in a beam pattern of 3/spl deg/ is obtained from a new designed rhombus-like stripe strained quantum-well diode laser (/spl lambda/=980 nm) with a 150-/spl mu/m-wide emission aperture grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The /spl eta//sub d/ is as high as 78%, and the maximum output power by the new stripe laser is 5.0 W for antireflection/high-reflection coated devices.     

High-modal gain 1300-nm In(Ga)As-GaAs quantum-dot lasers

A semiconductor laser containing seven InAs-InGaAs stacked quantum-dot (QD) layers was grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Shallow mesa ridge-waveguide lasers with stripe width of 120 /spl mu/m were fabricated and tested. A high modal gain of 41 cm/sup -1/ was obtained at room temperature corresponding to a modal gain of /spl sim/6 cm/sup -1/ per QD layer, which is very promising to enable the realization of 1.3-/spl mu/m ultrashort cavity devices such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Ground state laser action was achieved for a 360-/spl mu/m-cavity length with as-cleaved facets. The transparency current density per QD layer and internal quantum efficiency were 13 A/cm/sup 2/ and 67%, respectively.     

Low-threshold and high-efficiency operation of 1.5 /spl mu/m distributed reflector laser with DFB grating and Q-wire DBR sections

A low-threshold and high-efficiency distributed reflector laser consisting of active distributed feedback and quantum-wire distributed Bragg reflector sections has been demonstrated. A threshold current I/sub th/ as low as 2.5 mA ( j/sub th/=190 A/cm/sup 2/), an external differential quantum efficiency from the front facet of 36%, and a submode suppression ratio of 54 dB at a bias current of twice the threshold current were obtained for an active section length of 300 /spl mu/m with a stripe width of 4.4 /spl mu/m.     

Characteristics of MOCVD-grown thin p-clad InGaAs quantum-dot lasers

Thin p-clad quantum-dot lasers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition are fabricated and shown to lase in ground state for device lengths greater than 2.5 mm. The device characteristics are presented and the modal behavior is investigated. The threshold current density is found to be much larger for narrow (4 /spl mu/m) stripe width devices than expected from the wider (50 /spl mu/m) stripe width devices. This is attributed to gain saturation within the devices.     

Narrow-stripe distributed reflector lasers with first-order vertical grating and distributed Bragg reflectors

Narrow-stripe 1.55-/spl mu/m wavelength distributed reflector lasers consisting of both distributed Bragg reflectors and vertical grating of the first Bragg order were fabricated. A low threshold current I/sub th/ of 2.8 mA, a differential quantum efficiency /spl eta//sub d/ of 28% from the front facet, and a submode suppression ratio of 44 dB were obtained for structures with a stripe width of 1.3 /spl mu/m and a cavity length of 150 /spl mu/m.     

Low-threshold distributed reflector laser consisting of wide and narrow wirelike active regions

We demonstrate a low-threshold distributed reflector laser, consisting of a distributed feedback section with wirelike active regions and a passive distributed Bragg reflector section with narrower ones, by utilizing the lateral quantum confinement effect. A threshold current under the room-temperature continuous-wave condition as low as 3.2 mA, which corresponds to a threshold current density of 290 A/cm/sup 2/, was obtained with the stripe width of 4.3 /spl mu/m and the active region length of 260 /spl mu/m. The differential quantum efficiency of 19% from the front facet, a high output ratio of 11 from the front facet to the rear facet, and a submode suppression ratio of 47 dB at a bias current 3.75 times the threshold were also achieved.     

1.47 /spl mu/m Tm/sup 3+/:ZBLAN fibre laser pumped at 1.064 /spl mu/m

A large core area (1257 /spl mu/m/sup 2/) Tm/sup 3+/-doped ZBLAN fibre laser operated at 1.47 /spl mu/m is demonstrated. The pump source is a Nd:YAG laser operated at 1.064 /spl mu/m. A laser output power of 1.56 W continuous wave was obtained for 5.2 W of launched pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the launched pump power was measured to be 33%.     

Low-threshold high-T/sub 0/ 1.3-/spl mu/m InAs quantum-dot lasers due to p-type modulation doping of the active region

P-type doping is used to demonstrate high-To, low-threshold 1-3 /spl mu/m InAs quantum-dot lasers. A 5-/spl mu/m-wide oxide confined stripe laser with a 700-/spl mu/m-long cavity exhibits a pulsed T/sub 0/ = 213 K (196 K CW) from 0/spl deg/C to 80/spl deg/C. At room temperature, the devices have a CW threshold current of /spl sim/4.4 mA with an output power over 15 mW. The threshold at 100/spl deg/C is 8.4 mA with an output power over 8 mW.     

Midinfrared holmium fiber lasers

The use of the high-power Tm/sup 3+/-doped silica fiber laser as a pump source for Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica and Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber lasers for the generation of 2.1-/spl mu/m radiation is demonstrated. The Ho/sup 3+/-doped silica fiber laser produced a maximum output power of 1.5 W at a slope efficiency of /spl sim/82%; one of the highest slope efficiencies measured for a fiber laser. In a nonoptimized but similar fiber laser arrangement, a Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser produced an output power of 0.38 W at 2.08 /spl mu/m at a slope efficiency of /spl sim/50%. A Raman fiber laser operating at 1160 nm was also used to pump a Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser operating at a wavelength of 2.86 /spl mu/m. An output power of 0.31W was produced at a slope efficiency of 10%. The energy transfer upconversion process that depopulates the lower laser level in this case operates at a higher efficiency when the pump wavelength is closer to the absorption peak of the /sup 5/I/sub 6/ energy level, however, this energy transfer process does not impede to a great extent the performance of the Ho/sup 3+/-doped fluoride fiber laser based on the /spl sim/2.1/spl mu/m laser transition.     

High-power 2.3 /spl mu/m laser arrays emitting 10 W CW at room temperature

High-power 2.3 /spl mu/m In(Al)GaAsSb/GaSb type-I double quantum-well diode laser arrays have been fabricated and characterised. Linear laser arrays with 19 100 /spl mu/m-wide elements on a 1 cm-long bar generated 10 W in continuous-wave (CW) mode and 18.5 W in quasi-CW mode (30 /spl mu/s/300 Hz) at a heatsink temperature of 18/spl deg/C.     

A novel four-mask-processed poly-Si TFT fabricated using excimer laser crystallization of an edge-thickened a-Si active island

A four-mask-processed polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor (poly-Si TFT) is fabricated using 50-pulse KrF excimer laser to crystallize an edge-thickened amorphous silicon (a-Si) active island without any shrinkage. This method introduces a temperature gradient in the island to enlarge grains from the edge, especially when the channel width is narrow. The grain boundaries across the width of the channel suppress the leakage current and the drain-induced barrier lowering. Moreover, the proposed poly-Si TFT with a channel length of L = 2 /spl mu/m and a channel width of W = 1.2 /spl mu/m possesses a high field-effect mobility of 260 cm/sup 2//Vs and an on/off current ratio of 2.31 /spl times/ 10/sup 8/.     

Short wavelength (/spl lambda//spl sim/4.3 /spl mu/m) high-performance continuous-wave quantum-cascade lasers

We report continuous-wave (CW) operation of a 4.3-/spl mu/m quantum-cascade laser from 80 K to 313 K. For a high-reflectivity-coated 11-/spl mu/m-wide and 4-mm-long laser, CW output powers of 1.34 W at 80 K and 26 mW at 313 K are achieved. At 298 K, the CW threshold current density of 1.5 kA/cm/sup 2/ is observed with a CW output power of 166 mW and maximum wall-plug efficiency of 1.47%. The CW emission wavelength varies from 4.15 /spl mu/m at 80 K to 4.34 /spl mu/m at 298 K, corresponding to a temperature-tuning rate of 0.87 nm/K. The beam full-width at half-maximum values for the parallel and the perpendicular far-field patterns are 26/spl deg/ and 49/spl deg/ in CW mode, respectively.     

A 0.85-ns 1-kbit ECL RAM

A 1-kb ECL RAM with an address access time of 0.85 ns is described. This excellent performance is achieved by combining super self-aligned technology (SST) with 1-/spl mu/m design rules and high-speed circuit design. SST provides a narrow emitter stripe width of 0.5 /spl mu/m and a high cutoff frequency of 12.4 GHz at V/SUB CE/=3 V. A two-level metallization process is used. The minimum metallization pitches are 3 /spl mu/m in the first layer and 6 /spl mu/m in the second one. The chip size is 2.5/spl times/2.5 mm/SUP 2/ and the power dissipation is 950 mW. This RAM is promising for use in super computers and/or high-speed digital systems.     

Picosecond pulse generation with 1.5 /spl mu/m passively modelocked surface-emitting semiconductor laser

The authors report the first demonstration of an optically pumped passively modelocked surface-emitting semiconductor laser operating in the 1.5 /spl mu/m region. The modelocked laser emits pulses of 6.5 ps full width at half maximum duration with an average power of 13.5 mW at a fundamental repetition rate of 1.342 GHz. The peak power was 1.6 W.