Electrically pumped room temperature CW VCSELs with 2.3 /spl mu/m emission wavelength

Continuous wave (CW) operation at room temperature of electrically pumped InGaAlAs/InP vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) at emission wavelengths as high as 2.3 /spl mu/m is demonstrated for the first time. Devices with 15 /spl mu/m active region diameter show a maximum output power of 0.75 mW at 20/spl deg/C and a maximum CW operating temperature of 45/spl deg/C.     

High-power 2.3-/spl mu/m GaSb-based linear laser array

High-power 2.3-/spl mu/m In(Al)GaAsSb-GaSb type-I double quantum-well diode laser arrays were fabricated and characterized. 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. Array power conversion efficiency peaked at 30 A and was about 9%. Device internal efficiency was about 50%. Individual laser differential gain with respect to current was about twice as high as in InP-based laser heterostructures, demonstrating the potential of GaSb-based material system for high-power CW room-temperature laser diode arrays.     

0.6 W CW GaInNAs vertical external-cavity surface emitting laser operating at 1.32 /spl mu/m

What is believed to be the first high-power vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) operating at 1.3 /spl mu/m is reported. CW output powers >0.6 W were achieved using a diode-pumped GaInNAs VECSEL structure capillary-bonded to a single-crystal diamond heatspreader.     

Single-frequency tunable Sb-based VCSELs emitting at 2.3 /spl mu/m

We present a comparison between two kinds of single-frequency Sb-based semiconductor VCSELs operating at 2.3 /spl mu/m in continuous-wave regime at room temperature. These lasers are studied in view of application to spectroscopy or trace gas detection. Both are based on a molecular beam epitaxy grown half-VCSEL. In the first configuration, a dielectric mirror is deposited on top to form a microcavity, while in the second a concave mirror is used to form an external cavity. The external cavity VCSEL exhibits 5-mW output power, a narrow linewidth (<<20 kHz), and 50-GHz continuous frequency tunability.     

High-power room temperature emission quantum cascade lasers at /spl lambda/=9 /spl mu/m

We present two different techniques for processing InP-based /spl lambda/=9 /spl mu/m quantum cascade lasers which improve the thermal dissipation in the device. The first process is based on hydrogen implantation creating an insulating layer to inject current selectively in one part of the active region. The second process uses a thick electroplated gold layer on the laser ridge to efficiently remove the heat produced in the active region. Each process is designed to improve heat evacuation leading to higher performances of the lasers and will be compared to a standard ridge structure from the same wafer. We give evidence that the process of proton implantation, efficient in GaAs based structures, is not directly applicable to InP based devices and we present a detailed analysis of the thermal properties of devices with an electroplated gold thick layer. With these lasers, an average power of 174 mW at a duty cycle of 40% has been measured at 10/spl deg/C.     

Wavelength tunable InP-based EP-VECSEL operating at room temperature and in CW at 1.55 /spl mu/m

A novel wavelength-tunable electrically pumped InP-based vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (EP-VECSEL) having an end-cavity concave mirror directly integrated on a singlemode fibre is presented. Room temperature (RT) monomode operation and a mode hope-free wavelength tuning range of 15 nm in CW regime were obtained.     

Low threshold, room temperature laser diode pumped Sb-based VECSEL emitting around 2.1 /spl mu/m

The operation of a diode-pumped AlGaAsSb/GaInAsSb type-I quantum-well vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) emitting near 2.1 /spl mu/m is reported. The epitaxial structure, grown on GaSb by molecular beam epitaxy consists of a GaSb/AlAsSb Bragg reflector and a GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb active region. A TEM/sub 00/ low-divergence laser operation is demonstrated in quasi-CW (10 /spl mu/s pulses, 10% duty cycle) from 250 up to 350 K. A threshold as low as 390 W/cm/sup 2/ at 250 K combined with a T/sub 0/ around 33 K has been measured.     

Low-threshold CW GaInNAsSb/GaAs laser at 1.49 /spl mu/m

Low-threshold room temperature continuous wave 1.49 /spl mu/m GaInNAsSb lasers are presented. Room temperature threshold current density of 1.1 kA/cm/sup 2/ was observed with a high external quantum efficiency of 40% and maximum output power of 30 mW from both facets.     

GaInNAs-based distributed feedback laser diodes emitting at 1.5 /spl mu/m

For the first time, GaAs-based 1.5 /spl mu/m singlemode emission has been realised utilising GaInNAs active-layer material and lateral distributed feedback. The double quantum well separate confinement laser structure was grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. A threshold current of 240 mA and an external efficiency of 0.11 W/A could be demonstrated with a sidemode suppression ratio of better than 26 dB in pulsed operation. Singlemode emission up to 1506.5 nm has been realised.     

High-power singlemode CW operation of 1.5 /spl mu/m-range quantum dot GaAs-based laser

Narrow ridge stripe lasers with metamorphic InAs/InGaAs quantum dots grown using molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrates emit in the 1.5 /spl mu/m wavelength range demonstrating a differential quantum efficiency of about 50%, singlemode operation, and maximum continuous-wave power of 220 mW limited by thermal roll-over. Absence of beam filamentation is demonstrated up to the highest power levels studied.     

Low threshold high-power room-temperature continuous-wave operation diode laser emitting at 2.26 /spl mu/m

Diode lasers emitting at 2.26 /spl mu/m, based on the InGaAsSb-AlGaAsSb materials system, are reported. These devices exhibit high internal quantum efficiency of 78% and low threshold current density of 184.5 A/cm/sup 2/ for a 2-mm-long cavity. Output power up to 700 mW (/spl ap/550 mW) has been obtained at 280 K (300 K) in continuous-wave operation with 100 /spl mu/m/spl times/1 mm lasers. These devices have been coated with an antireflection on the output facet and are mounted epilayer down on a copper block. The working temperature was maintained by a thermoelectric Peltier cooling element.     

Quantum dot superluminescent diodes emitting at 1.3 /spl mu/m

We report ridge-waveguide superluminescent diodes based on five stacks of self-assembled InAs-GaAs quantum dots. Devices with output powers up to 10 mW emitting around 1.3 /spl mu/m are demonstrated. Spectral analysis shows a broad emission peak (26-nm full-width at half-maximum) from the dot ground state at low injection, and an additional peak from the excited state at higher bias. Temperature characteristics in the range 10/spl deg/C-80/spl deg/C are also reported. The experimental curves are in good agreement with simulations performed using a traveling-wave rate equation model.     

InGaAs-AlAsSb quantum cascade structures emitting at 3.1 /spl mu/m

A report is made of the pulsed operation of In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As-AlAs/sub 0.56/Sb/sub 0.44/ quantum cascade structures on an InP substrate. The very large conduction band offset (/spl sim/1.6 eV) of this material system made it possible to observe electroluminescence at /spl lambda//spl sim/3.1 /spl mu/m, the shortest emission wavelength yet observed for any intersubband device.     

Mid-infrared (8.5 /spl mu/m) semiconductor lasers operating at room temperature

The room-temperature pulsed operation of a semiconductor laser emitting at 8.5 /spl mu/m is reported. This device is an optimized vertical transition quantum cascade (QC) laser. At 300 K the peak output power from a single facet is 15 mW, and the current density at threshold is /spl sim/8 kA/cm/sup 2/. The temperature dependence of the threshold current density is described by a high T/sub 0/ (107 K) in the 200-320 K temperature range.     

Very-low-threshold 2.4-/spl mu/m GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb laser diodes operating at room temperature in the continuous-wave regime

A GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb large optical cavity triple-quantum-well structure was grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Shallow mesa ridge-waveguide lasers with stripe width of 100 /spl mu/m were fabricated and tested. An internal losses coefficient as low as 4 cm/sup -1/ and a high internal quantum efficiency of 70% were obtained. In the pulsed regime at room temperature, the extrapolated threshold current densities for infinite cavity length is 78 A/cm/sup 2/. The threshold current density per quantum well is as low as 34 A/cm/sup 2/ for a 3-mm-long cavity.     

Continuous-wave operation of quantum cascade laser emitting near 5.6 /spl mu/m

Buried heterostructure quantum cascade lasers emitting at 5.64 /spl mu/m are presented. Continuous-wave (CW) operation has been achieved at -30/spl deg/C for junction down mounted devices with both facets coated. A 750 /spl mu/m-long laser exhibited 3 mW of CW power with a threshold current density of 5.4 kA/cm/sup 2/.     

Long wavelength GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb distributed-feedback lasers emitting at 2.84 /spl mu/m

Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of a singlemode GaInAsSb/GaSb/AlGaAsSb distributed feedback (DFB) laser is presented at a record long emission wavelength for this material system of 2.843 /spl mu/m. The threshold current at 20/spl deg/C is 75 mA. Mode selection was realised by metal gratings laterally patterned to a ridge waveguide. By varying the grating period, DFB emission from 2.738 up to 2.843 /spl mu/m is obtained.     

High-power AlGaInAs strained multiquantum well lasers operating at 1.52 /spl mu/m

1.75 W CW power in AlGaInAs-InP strained QW lasers is demonstrated. Room temperature threshold current densities are 410 A/cm/sup 2/, and the characteristic temperature is 69 K. The variation in the external differential efficiency with cavity length and temperature reveal the optimum length and show how nonradiative recombination mechanisms limit the performance.     

Laterally coupled DBR laser emitting at 1.55 /spl mu/m fabricated by focused ion beam lithography

By using focused ion beam lithography high performance 1.55-/spl mu/m emitting distributed Bragg reflector lasers were realized suitable for high-speed optical telecommunication. Threshold currents of 8 mA and continuous-wave efficiencies of 0.37 W/A for 600-/spl mu/m-long devices were achieved. Stable single-mode emission with sidemode suppression ratios of > 40 dB were observed for the entire operation range. By relative intensity noise measurements an intrinsic 3-dB modulation frequency of > 10 GHz was estimated for a single-mode output power of 23 mW.     

Type-II interband cascade lasers emitting at wavelengths beyond 5.1 /spl mu/m

Type-II interband cascade lasers have been demonstrated at emission wavelengths longer than 5.1 /spl mu/m at temperatures up to 163 K and 240 K in continuous wave and pulsed modes, respectively. The emission wavelengths are the longest attained among III-V interband diode lasers. The threshold current density is as low as 36 A/cm/sup 2/ at 80 K.