Semiconductor laser with regrown-lens-train unstable resonator: theory and design

Author

Paxton, Alan H. ; Schaus, Christian F. ; Srinivasan, Swaminathan T.

Author_Institution

Air Force Phillips Lab., Kirtland AFB, NM, USA

Volume

29

Issue

11

fYear

1993

fDate

11/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2784

Lastpage

2792

Abstract

The authors derive the geometrical optical properties of the fundamental mode of the unstable resonator consisting of a train of weak cylindrical lenses and obtain expressions for the effective distributed loss and the increase in threshold current due to the beam expansion. These properties are the same as for the continuous unstable resonator with a quadratic lateral variation of the index of refraction, to a very good approximation. The wave aberration introduced by passage through the lenses and through the output facet is not severe for stripe widths up to 170 μm. The authors discuss the rationale for selecting a specific transverse structure for the regrown-lens-train laser and present the results of calculations of the waveguide modes and values of the effective index of refraction

Keywords

aberrations; geometrical optics; laser cavity resonators; lenses; optical design techniques; refractive index; semiconductor lasers; beam expansion; continuous unstable resonator; effective distributed loss; fundamental mode; geometrical optical properties; index of refraction; laser resonator; output facet; quadratic lateral variation; regrown-lens-train laser; regrown-lens-train unstable resonator; semiconductor laser; stripe widths; threshold current; transverse structure; wave aberration; waveguide modes; weak cylindrical lenses; Geometrical optics; Laser beams; Laser modes; Lenses; Optical losses; Optical refraction; Optical resonators; Semiconductor lasers; Threshold current; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.248937

Filename

248937