GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb tapered lasers emitting at 2 μm

Tapered oscillators fabricated from GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb quantum-well structure are reported for the first time. The quantum-well laser structure, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, has broad-stripe pulsed threshold current densities as low as 330 A/cm² at room temperature. One tapered laser emitting at 2.02 μm has exhibited continuous wave (CW) output power up to 750 mW, with power in the near-diffraction-limited central lobe as high as 200 mW     

GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb tapered lasers emitting at 2.05 μm with 0.6-Wdiffraction-limited power

Tapered lasers fabricated from a GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb single-quantum-well structure are reported. The laser structure, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, has broad-stripe pulsed threshold current densities as low as 50 A/cm² at room temperature. Tapered lasers have exhibited diffraction-limited continuous-wave output power up to 600 mW     

High-power GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb multiple-quantum-well diode lasersemitting at 1.9 μm

High-power diode lasers emitting at ~1.9 μm have been fabricated from a quantum-well heterostructure having an active region consisting of five GaInAsSb wells and six AlGaAsSb barriers. For devices 300 μm wide and 1000 μm long, single-ended output power as high as 1.3 W cw has been obtained with an initial differential quantum efficiency of 47%. The pulsed threshold current density is as low as 143 A/cm² for 2000-μm-long devices     

Bistable operation of 0.8 μm GaInAsP/GaAs lasers

Quaternary GaInAsP prepared on GaAs is a very promising material for optoelectronic devices in alternating AlGaAs/GaAs systems. The authors report bistable operation in stripe geometry GaInAsP/GaAs DH lasers with gain region and absorbing region in the laser resonator. A hysteresis loop is observed in the I/L curve under pulsed operation at room temperature     

Low-threshold, high-temperature operation of 1.2 μm InGaAsvertical cavity lasers

The growth and characterisation of high performance InGaAs/GaAs quantum-well vertical cavity lasers with an emission wavelength of 1215 nm is reported. Continuous wave operation is demonstrated up to 105°C with a threshold current below 1 mA for T<80°C. For a 2.5 μm device the room temperature threshold current, output power and slope efficiency is 0.6 mA, 0.6 mW and 0.2 W/A, respectively     

Continuous wave operation of λ~19 μm surface-plasmonquantum cascade lasers

Continuous wave laser action has been achieved in a superlattice quantum cascade device operating on surface plasmon waveguide modes. The emission wavelength λ~19 μm is by far the longest ever reported for continuous wave III-V semiconductor lasers. The output power at cryogenic temperature is of the order of the mW     

High-power, high-temperature operation of GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSbridge-waveguide lasers emitting at 1.9 μm

Ridge-waveguide lasers emitting at ~1.9 μm have been fabricated from a multiple-quantum-well heterostructure with an active region consisting of five GaInAsSb wells and six AlGaAsSb barriers. At room temperature, single-ended cw output power as high as 100 mW has been obtained. The maximum cw operating temperature is 130°C, with a characteristic temperature of 85 K between 20 and 80°C     

Continuous-wave operation of singlemode GaInAsSb lasers emittingnear 2.2 μm at Peltier temperatures

A continuous-wave regime, lasing near 2.2 μm, has been achieved for single longitudinal mode GaInAsSb double heterostructure lasers mounted on a Peltier cooler. In the pulsed regime the lasers exhibited a characteristic temperature of the threshold current as high as 132 K at heatsink temperatures up to 60°C     

Coherent laser radar at 2 μm using solid-state lasers

The development of a coherent laser radar system using 2-μm Tm and Tm, Ho-doped solid-state lasers, which is useful for the remote range-resolved measurement of atmospheric winds, aerosol backscatter, and differential absorption lidar (DIAL) measurements of atmospheric water vapor and CO₂ concentrations, is described. Measurements made with the 2-μm coherent laser radar system, advances in the laser technology, and atmospheric propagation effects on 2-μm coherent lidar performance are discussed. Results include horizontal atmospheric wind measurements to >20 km. vertical wind measurements to >5 km, near-horizontal cloud returns to 100 km, and hard target (mountainside) returns from 145 km     

Low-threshold 1.5 μm compressive-strained multiple- andsingle-quantum-well lasers

Design considerations for low-threshold 1.5-μm lasers using compressive-strained quantum wells are discussed. Parameters include transparency current density, maximum modal gain, bandgap wavelength, and carrier confinement. The optical confinement for a thin quantum well in the separate-confinement heterostructure (SCH) and the step graded-index separate-confinement heterostructure (GRINSCH) are analyzed and compared. 1.5-μm compressive-strained multiple- and single-quantum-well lasers have been fabricated and characterized. As a result of the compressive strain, the threshold current density is loss limited instead of transparency limited. By the use of the step graded-index separate-confinement heterostructure to reduce the waveguide loss, a low threshold current density of 319 A/cm² was measured on compressive-strained single-quantum-well broad-area lasers with a 27 μ oxide stripe width     

InAs quantum-dot lasers operating near 1.3 μm with highcharacteristic temperature for continuous-wave operation

A high characteristic temperature with T₀ of 126 K under continuous-wave operation is obtained for an InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser. A triple-stacked active region with an energy separation of 95 meV between the ground and first excited radiative transitions is used to achieve a ground state saturation gain at 300 K of 13 cm^-1, and high internal quantum efficiency of 74%     

InGaAsSb-AlGaAsSb distributed-feedback lasers emitting at 1.72μm

We have developed distributed-feedback ridge waveguide lasers based on AlGa(In)AsSb emitting at 1.72 μm. The distributed feedback is obtained by first-order Cr-Bragg gratings defined on both sides of the laser ridge. The threshold current under pulsed operation at room temperature was around 180 mA and an output power of 1.5 mW was obtained. The gratings lead to a side-mode suppression ratio of 27 dB     

InGaAs-GaAs-InGaP distributed feedback buried heterostructurestrained quantum-well lasers for high-power operation at 0.98 μm

Data are presented on device results from InGaAs-GaAs distributed feedback buried heterostructure (DFB BH) strained-quantum-well lasers with InGaP cladding layers. DFB BH lasers with a p-n InGaP current blocking junction entirely grown by a three-step MOVPE on GaAs substrates show a low laser threshold of 3.2 mA and a high output power of 41 mW with single-longitudinal-mode operation, both measured CW at RT. The monomode oscillation is obtained even at the injection current of 140 mA (44 times the laser threshold) with the side-mode suppression ratio of 35 dB and the temperature sensitivity of Bragg modes being 0.5 Å/°C measured between 20 and 40°C     

High-power high-brightness GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb tapered laser arrayswith anamorphic collimating lenses emitting at 2.05 μm

Linear arrays of GaInAsSb-AlGaAsSb tapered MQW lasers emitting at 2.05 μm have been fabricated and operated with 1-ms current pulses. Peak power over 3 W was obtained for nine-element arrays at 18.5 A. Up to 1.7-W peak power, within a 65-mrad full-angle cone, was measured in the far field using anamorphic collimating lens arrays, fabricated by mass transport in GaP     

Continuous wave operation of long wavelength (λ≃11μm) inter-miniband lasers

A long wavelength (λ≃11 μm) quantum cascade laser based on inter-miniband transitions in semiconductor superlattices is reported. The device operates continuous wave up to a temperature of 85 K, with a maximum output power of 75 mW at 25 K. Both record values for unipolar lasers of comparable wavelength     

High performance CW 1.26 μm GaInNAsSb-SQW and 1.20 μmGaInAsSb-SQW ridge lasers

Long-wavelength GaInNAsSb SQW lasers and GaInAsSb SQW lasers that include small amounts of Sb have been successfully grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) and processed into ridge lasers. The GaInNAsSb lasers oscillated under CW operation at 1.258 μm at room temperature. A low CW threshold current of 10.2 mA and high characteristic temperature (T₀) of 146 K were obtained for the GaInNAsSb lasers which is the best result for GaInNAs-based narrow-stripe lasers. Furthermore. The GaInAsSb lasers oscillated under CW operation at 1.20 μm at room temperature. A low CW threshold current of 6.3 mA and high characteristic temperature (T₀) of 756 K were obtained for the GaInAsSb lasers, which is also the best result for the 1.2 μm-range of highly strained GaInAs-based narrow-stripe lasers     

Tensile-strained GaInAsP-InP quantum-well lasers emitting at 1.3μm

Tensile-strained GaInAsP-InP quantum-well (QW) lasers emitting at 1.3 μm are investigated. Low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP-MOCVD) is used for crystal growth. High-resolution X-ray diffraction shows good agreement with theoretical simulation, photoluminescence spectra have good energy separation between light-hole and heavy-hole bands due to biaxial tension. The lowest threshold current density for infinite cavity length J_th/N_w ^∞ of 100 A/cm² is obtained for the device with -1.15% strain and N_w=3. The amount of strain which gives the lowest J_th/N_w^∞ experimentally clarified is around -1.2%. Threshold current of a buried-heterostructure (BH) laser is reduced to be as low as 1.0 mA. Enhanced differential gain of 7.1×10^-16 cm² is also confirmed by measurements of relative intensity noise. Much improved threshold characteristic with the feasibility of submilliamp threshold current can be achievable by optimizing the BH structure. The tensile-strained QW laser emitting at 1.3 μm with very low power consumption is attractive for the light source of fiber in the loop system and optical interconnection applications     

1.5 μm wavelength distributed reflector lasers with verticalgrating

A 1.5 μm wavelength distributed reflector laser, consisting of a distributed Bragg reflector rear facet and a distributed feedback region, was realised using deep-etching technology. A low threshold current of I_th=12.4 mA and a high differential quantum efficiency of η_d=42% from the front facet was achieved with a submode suppression ratio of 33 dB (I=2.4 I_th) for a fifth-order grating, 220 μm long and 6 μm wide device at room temperature     

High-stability 1.5 μm external-cavity semiconductor lasers forphase-lock applications

Applications using phase-locked semiconductor lasers, such as homodyne detection, require lasers with narrow linewidth and high-frequency stability. The design and operating characteristics of two 1.5 μm external-cavity semiconductor lasers built for such applications are described. The measured beat linewidth is 4 kHz, and the spectral density of relative frequency noise deviates significantly from the intrinsic white spectrum only at frequencies below 4 kHz. It is estimated that this frequency jitter will induce approximately 1.1° RMS phase error in a second-order homodyne optical phase-lock loop that is optimized for the present beat linewidth     

Circular beam emission from 1.3 μm InGaAsPstrained-multiquantum-well lasers

The beam divergence in the vertical direction from a graded index separate confinement heterostructure (GRINSCH) multiquantum-well (MQW) laser has been studied. It is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that a circular beam MQW laser can be produced by choosing appropriate thicknesses for the GRINSCH layers, while maintaining other desired laser characteristics. The beam divergence is found to be more affected by the index change induced by injected carriers than by strain in the MQW active layer. Theoretical results are in good agreement with the measurements for 1.3-μm InGaAsP strained MQW lasers