High-peak-power optically-pumped AlGaInAs eye-safe laser with a silicon wafer as an output coupler: comparison between the stack cavity and the separate cavity

Abstract

An intrinsic silicon wafer is exploited as an output coupler to develop a high-peak-power optically-pumped AlGaInAs laser at 1.52 μm. The gain chip is sandwiched with the diamond heat spreader and the silicon wafer to a stack cavity. It is experimentally confirmed that not only the output stability but also the conversion efficiency are considerably enhanced in comparison with the separate cavity in which the silicon wafer is separated from other components. The average output power obtained with the stack cavity was 2.02 W under 11.5 W average pump power, corresponding to an overall optical-to-optical efficiency of 17.5%; the slope efficiency was 18.6%. The laser operated at 100 kHz repetition rate and the pulse peak power was 0.4 kW.

Focus issue introduction: Advanced Solid-State Lasers (ASSL) 2015

“…Wen, Tuan, Liang, Tsou, Su, Huang and Chen [13] use a stack cavity design to demonstrate improved performance in a high-peak-power optically-pumped AlGaInAs laser with a silicon wafer as an output coupler. They compared a laser configuration involving a stack cavity, where the silicon wafer was directly bonded to the gain chip and its diamond heat spreader, with a conventional design, where the silicon wafer was separated from the other components.…”