Title :
High-power, near-diffraction-limited large-area traveling-wave semiconductor amplifiers
Author :
Goldberg, Lew ; Mehuys, David ; Surette, Marc R. ; Hall, Douglas C.
Author_Institution :
US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA
fDate :
6/1/1993 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Operating characteristics of high-power large-active-area GaAlAs amplifiers configured in double-pass and single-pass traveling-wave arrangements are described. Single-pass broad-area amplifiers with a 600-μm stripe width generated up to 21 W of near-diffraction-limited emission under pulsed operation when injected with 500 mW from a Ti:Al 2O3 laser, and 11.6 W when injected with 100 mW from a laser diode master laser. In CW operation, a broad-area amplifier output of 3.3 W was demonstrated. Tapered-stripe large-area amplifiers emitted up to 4.5 W in a near-diffraction-limited beam when injected with 150 mW from a Ti:Al2O3 laser. The physical mechanisms causing degradation of the output beam phase front and intensity uniformity at high output power levels, including thermal lensing and filamentation, are presented
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; laser beams; semiconductor lasers; 100 mW; 11.6 W; 150 mW; 21 W; 3.3 W; 4.5 W; 500 mW; Al2O3:Ti; CW operation; GaAlAs; broad-area amplifier; degradation; double-pass amplifiers; filamentation; high-power lasers; intensity uniformity; laser diode master laser; near-diffraction-limited emission; near-diffraction-limited large-area traveling-wave semiconductor amplifiers; output beam phase front; semiconductors; single-pass amplifiers; thermal lensing; traveling-wave arrangements; Diode lasers; High power amplifiers; Laser beams; Laser theory; Operational amplifiers; Optical pulse generation; Power generation; Pulse amplifiers; Space vector pulse width modulation; Thermal degradation;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
