Passively modelocked vertical extended cavity surface emitting diode laser

Jasim, Khalil Ebrahim; Zhang, Qiang; Nurmikko, A. V.; Mooradian, A.; Carey, Glen P.; Ha, Wonill; Ippen, Erich P.

doi:10.1049/el:20030240

Cited by 42 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Despite the impressive cw performance of these devices, modelocking results have been limited to 40 mW of average output power with 57-ps pulses [15] and some tens of milliwatts with 15-ps pulses [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gain characterization and passive modelocking of electrically pumped VECSELs

Pallmann¹,

Zaugg²,

Mangold³

et al. 2012

Opt. Express

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Linear and nonlinear gain characterization of electrically pumped vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (EP-VECSELs) is presented with spectrally resolved measurements of the gain and with gain saturation measurements of two EP-VECSEL samples with different field enhancement in the quantum-well gain layers. The spectral bandwidth, small-signal gain and saturation fluence of the devices are compared. Using the sample with the larger bandwidth, we have demonstrated the shortest pulses generated from a passively modelocked EP-VECSEL to date. With a low-saturation-fluence SESAM for passive modelocking we have achieved 9.5-ps pulses with 7.6 mW average output power at a repetition rate of 1.4 GHz. With a higher output coupler transmission the pulse duration was increased to 31 ps with an average output power of 13.6 mW. The pulses were chirped mainly due to the group delay dispersion (GDD) introduced by the intermediate DBR, which compensates the optical loss in the structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gain characterization and passive modelocking of electrically pumped VECSELs

Pallmann¹,

Zaugg²,

Mangold³

et al. 2012

Opt. Express

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“…Also, mode locking with down to 15-ps FWHM pulse width [14] and a wafer-scale EP-VECSEL with a micromirror and 10-mW cw output power have been reported [15]. So far, the average output power of passively mode locked EP-VECSELs has been limited to 40 mW [16] even though nearly 1 W of average power has been demonstrated at cw.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

et al. 2008

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Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) yield an excellent beam quality in conjunction with a scalable output power. This paper presents a detailed numerical analysis of electrically pumped VECSEL (EP-VECSEL) structures. Electrical pumping is a key element for compact laser devices. We consider the optical loss, current confinement, and device resistance. The main focus of our investigation is on the achievement of an adequate radial carrier distribution for fundamental transverse mode operation. It will be shown that a trade off between the conflicting optical and electrical optimization has to be found and we derive an optimized design resulting in guidelines for the design of EP-VECSELs which are compatible with passive mode locking. Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) [1] are of high scientific and industrial interest due to their large fundamental transverse mode output power, scaling with the device radius, the near diffraction limited output beam, and the suitability for intracavity frequency conversion [2] and passive mode locking [3,4]. Passive mode locking of an optically pumped VECSEL has been demonstrated with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) [5] in a folded external cavity. After the first passively mode locked VECSEL was demonstrated in the year 2000 [6], the milestone of nearly 1 W average output power was achieved in 2002 with improved thermal management [7]. The pulses in the early experiments were often strongly chirped, but mode-locking dynamics in VECSELs revealed that a soliton-like pulse-shaping mechanism in the positive-dispersion regime can help to generate short pulses with low chirp. With the aid of intracavity dispersion control, it then became possible to obtain nearly transform limited picosecond pulses with record high output powers of 2.1 W at 4 GHz [4] and 1.4 W at 10 GHz [8]. The pulse width could be u Fax: +41-44-633-10-59, E-mail: keller@phys.ethz.ch significantly shortened to the sub-500-fs regime using faster SESAMs based on the ac Stark effect [9]. The vertical integration of the absorber into one monolithic structure with the gain quantum wells (QWs) is an important step towards higher pulse repetition rates with decreased cavity size and wafer-scale integration. This has been achieved for the first time and is referred to as the mode-locked integrated-externalcavity surface-emitting laser (MIXSEL) [10]. So far, all these devices have been optically pumped, which involves a more complex optical setup. Thus, an important step towards waferscale fabrication of compact ultrafast VECSELs is the design of electrically pumped VECSEL (EP-VECSEL) structures. This is challenging because of optical losses and Joule heating in the doped layers. Nevertheless, continuous-wave (cw) EP-VECSELs have been demonstrated [11,12] and output powers of up to 900 mW have been obtained with a 150-µm device diameter in multimode operation [13]. Also, mode locking with down to 15-ps FWHM pulse width [14] and a wafer-scale EP-VECSEL w...

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“…Such passive mode locking has been demonstrated with both optically [62,134,[223][224][225][226] and electrically [227][228][229][230] pumped VECSELs. Some of the remarkable characteristics demonstrated with passively mode-locked VECSELs are transform-limited pulses as short as 220 fs [231], repetition rates as high as 50 GHz [62], timing jitter as low as 160 fs with actively stabilized laser [232], and average output powers as high as 2.1 W [133], all with excellent circular output beams.…”

Section: Current and Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

VECSEL Semiconductor Lasers: A Path to High‐Power, Quality Beam and UV to IR Wavelength by Design

Kuznetsov¹

2010

Semiconductor Disk Lasers

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Since its invention and demonstration in 1960, several types of laser have been developed, such as solid-state, semiconductor, gas, excimer, and dye lasers [1]. Today, lasers are used in a wide range of important applications, particularly in optical fiber communication, optical digital recording (CD, DVD, and Blu-ray), laser materials processing, biology and medicine, spectroscopy, imaging, entertainment, and many others. A number of properties enable the application of lasers in these diverse areas, each application requiring a particular combination of these properties. Some of the most important laser properties are laser emission wavelength; output optical power; method of laser excitation, whether by optical pumping or electrical current injection; laser power consumption and efficiency; high-speed modulation or short pulse generation ability; wavelength tunability; output beam quality; device size; and so on. Thus, optical fiber communication [2], a major application that enables modern Internet, commonly requires lasers with emission wavelengths in the 1.55 mm lowloss band of glass fibers and with single-transverse mode output beams for coupling into single-mode optical fibers. Typically, a given laser type excels in some of these properties, while exhibiting shortcomings in others. For example, by using different material compositions and structures, the most widely used semiconductor diode laser [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] can cover a wide range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-IR, can be advantageously driven by diode current injection, and is very compact and efficient. However, the good beam quality, that is, single-transverse mode nearcircular beam operation, can be typically achieved in semiconductor lasers only for output powers below 1 W. Much higher power levels are achievable from semiconductor lasers only with large aspect ratio highly multimoded poor quality optical beams. On the other hand, the solid-state lasers [13,14], including fiber lasers [15], can emit hundreds of watts of output power with excellent beam quality, however, their emission wavelengths are restricted to discrete values of electronic transitions in ions, such as the classic 1064 nm wavelength of the Nd:YAG laser, making them Semiconductor Disk Lasers. Physics and Technology. Edited by Oleg G. Okhotnikov

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Passively modelocked vertical extended cavity surface emitting diode laser

Cited by 42 publications

References 6 publications

Gain characterization and passive modelocking of electrically pumped VECSELs

Gain characterization and passive modelocking of electrically pumped VECSELs

On the design of electrically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers

VECSEL Semiconductor Lasers: A Path to High‐Power, Quality Beam and UV to IR Wavelength by Design

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