GaAs laser amplifiers

Experimental results are presented on the operational characteristics of GaAs laser amplifiers very closely coupled to a laser oscillator. The separation between the oscillator and the amplifier was varied from 0.2 to 2.0 microns. The amplifiers were made by lapping one end at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees. This angle is several times larger than the critical angle for confinement of radiation in GaAs lasers that is estimated from experimental data to be between 2 and 3 degrees. The measured signal gain is a decaying function of input power and approaches a value of 2 to 4 for large input signals. A maximum amplifier gain of about 150 was obtained for an input signal of 2 mW/mil junction width (corresponding to an optical flux-density of about 8 kW/cm²incident on the input side of the amplifier). At this input power level, the output fluoresence is reduced by about 50 percent and the internal oscillatory modes of the amplifier are almost completely quenched. The ratio of the oscillator output actually coupled into the amplifier to the measured output from the oscillator was estimated from gain saturation measurements. It was found to be inversely proportional to the cleaved separation between the oscillator and the amplifier and was estimated as 0.5 and 0.07 for separations of 0.2 and 2 microns, respectively. The output quantum efficiency of the laser amplifier was demonstrated to be comparable to the output quantum efficiency of a single oscillator. Tests of a new structure for a low-noise, constant-gain laser amplifier are described.