Thermal Interaction in Semiconductor Laser Arrays

A novel theoretical model of thermal diffusion has been established to study thermal interaction between two neighboring diodes in semiconductor laser arrays. The main cause of the ocurrence of the thermal interaction between two neighboring diodes in array devices is the heat conduction through heat sink. We hold that as the devices must have heat sink to diffuse heat, this kind of interaction in the array would always exist. However, when the pitch between two neighboring diodes in the array is reasonably defined, this troublesome thermal interaction can be simply reduced by using our model. Based on the individual diodes with leaky waveguide structure, we experimentally succeeded in fabricating 2D 4 ×4 arrays. The thermal interaction between upper and lower diodes in the 2D array is also considered as well as the function of the heat sink. The measured results show that the pulse peak output powor of the 2D 4 ×4 array is high up to 11 W.

Analysis of Thermal Effects in Laser Rod Pumped by Repetitively Pulsed Laser Diode Array

Based on some assumptions, the numerical model of thermal distribution in solid state laser crystal pumped by pulsed laser diode is set up due to the pumped intensity distribution. Taking into account the property of YAG materials that varies with temperature, the transient temperature distribution of the laser crystal is calculated using finite element method on condition that K is a constant and a function of temperature. Then, the influence of the pumping parameters on the thermal effect in laser crystal is also discussed. This study is helpful to optimize the design of the diode side pumped solid state lasers.

Research on quantum well intermixing of 680 nm AlGaInP/GaInP semiconductor lasers induced by composited Si-Si_(3)N_(4) dielectric layer

The optical catastrophic damage that usually occurs at the cavity surface of semiconductor lasers has become the main bottleneck affecting the improvement of laser output power and long-term reliability.To improve the output power of 680 nm AlGaInP/GaInP quantum well red semiconductor lasers,Si-Si_(3)N_(4)composited dielectric layers are used to induce its quantum wells to be intermixed at the cavity surface to make a non-absorption window.Si with a thickness of 100 nm and Si_(3)N_(4)with a thickness of 100 nm were grown on the surface of the epitaxial wafer by magnetron sputtering and PECVD as diffusion source and driving source,respectively.Compared with traditional Si impurity induced quantum well intermixing,this paper realizes the blue shift of 54.8 nm in the nonabsorbent window region at a lower annealing temperature of 600 ℃ and annealing time of 10 min.Under this annealing condition,the wavelength of the gain luminescence region basically does not shift to short wavelength,and the surface morphology of the whole epitaxial wafer remains fine after annealing.The application of this process condition can reduce the difficulty of production and save cost,which provides an effective method for upcoming fabrication.

Effects of the Facet Reflectivity of a Laser Diode on Fiber Bragg Grating Semiconductor Lasers

Effects of facet reflectivity of a laser diode on the performance of fiber Bragg grating semiconductor lasers are studied experimentally. Facet reflectivity of less than 10-4 is necessary to obtain stable oscillation wavelength.

Thermal analysis of the cavity facet for an 808 nm semiconductor laser by using near-field scanning optical microscopy

In order to analyze the thermal characteristics of the cavity facet of a semiconductor laser, a home-built near-field scanning optical microscopy （NSOM） is employed to probe the topography of the facet. By comparing the topographic images of two samples under different DC current injections, we can find that the thermal characteristic is related to its lifetime. We show that it is possible to predict the lifetime of the semiconductor laser diode with nondestructive tests.

Effects of gain nonlinearities in an optically injected gain lever semiconductor laser

The effects of gain compression on the modulation dynamics of an optically injected gain lever semiconductor laser are studied. Calculations reveal that the gain compression is not necessarily a drawback affecting the laser dynamics. With a practical injection strength, a high gain lever effect and a moderate compression value allow us to theoretically predict a modulation bandwidth four times higher than the free-running one without a gain lever,which is of paramount importance for the development of directly modulated broadband optical sources compatible with short-reach communication links.

Effects of Metal Absorber Thermal Conductivity on Clear Plastic Laser Transmission Welding

In our previous study, metals have been used as absorbers in the clear plastic laser transmission welding. The effects of metal thermal conductivity on the welding quality are investigated in the present work. Four metals with distinctly different thermal conductivities, i.e., titanium, nickel, molybdenum, and copper, are selected as light absorbers. The lap welding is conducted with an 808 nm diode laser and simulation experiments are also conducted. Nickel electroplating test is carried out to minimize the side-effects from different light absorptivities of different metals. The results show that the welding with an absorber of higher thermal conductivity can accommodate higher laser input power before smoking, which produces a wider and stronger welding seam.The positive role of the higher thermal conductivity can be attributed to the fact that a desirable thermal field distribution for the molecular diffusion and entanglement is produced from the case with a high thermal conductivity.

The Effect of Lateral Guiding Mechanism on Noise Characteristics in Semiconductor Lasers

A comparison between intensity noise spectra and also the line shapes of gain-guided, weakly-index-guided, and strongly-index-guided semiconductor lasers are made using numerical solution of Maxwell-Bloch equations including spontaneous emission noise.

Physics of Power Semiconductor Streamer Laser

It is considered the mechanism of streamer discharge in the wide-gap semiconductors as a highly effective method of the laser excitation on the basis of representation about the phenomenon of light self-trapping of the discharge, providing their high propagation velocity down to v- 5 ×10^9 sm/s, the crystallographic orientation, filamentary character at thickness of the channel about 1 μm and absence of destructions of a crystal.

THERMAL SHOCK OF SEMI-INFINITE BODY WITH MULTI-PULSED INTENSE LASER RADIATION

In order to investigate the thermal shock and the heat conduction property of a target under multi-pulsed laser radiation, analytic expressions of both temperature and thermal stress fields in the target are deduced on the basis of the non-Fourier conduction law and the thermo-elastic theory. Taking a stainless steel target as an example, we can solve the analytic expressions under appropriate boundary conditions by using the finite difference method and MATLAB software, and then reveal the evolution law of both surplus temperaturt, and thermal stress in the target. The results indicate that the temperature curves in the target irradiated by a multi-pulsed laser take on a delayed character in different sections away from the boundary, which is only affected by its relaxation time. The front of the stress wave is very steep in the non-Fourier numerical solutions, which presents an obvious thermal shock, so it is necessary to consider the non-Fourier effect of semi-infinite body under the high energy laser radiation.

Analytical model for thermal lensing and spherical aberration in diode side-pumped Nd:YAG laser rod having Gaussian pump profile

In this paper, according to the temperature and strain distribution obtained by considering the Gaussian pump profile and dependence of physical properties on temperature, we derive an analytical model for refractive index variations of the diode side-pumped Nd：YAG laser rod. Then we evaluate this model by numerical solution and our maximum relative errors are 5% and 10% for variations caused by thermo–optical and thermo–mechanical effects; respectively. Finally, we present an analytical model for calculating the focal length of the thermal lens and spherical aberration. This model is evaluated by experimental results.

Thermal conductivity of dense hcp iron:Direct measurements using laser heated diamond anvil cell

Thermal conductivity(k)of iron is measured up to about 134 GPa.The measurements are carried out using the single sided laser heated diamond anvil cell,where the power absorbed by a Fe metal foil at hotspot is calculated using a novel thermodynamical method.Thermal conductivity of fee(γ)-Fe increases up to a pressure of about46 GPa.We find thermal conductivity values in the range of 70-80 Wm-1K-1(with an uncertainty of 40%),almost constant with pressure,in the hcp(e)phase of Fe.We attribute the pressure independent k above 46 GPa to the strong electronic correlation effects driven by the electronic topological transition(ETT).We predict a value of thermal conductivity ofε-Fe of about 40±16 Wm-1K-1 at the outer core of Earth.

Thermal Characterization of 1.3 μm InAsP/InGaAsP Ridge Waveguide MQW Lasers Based on I-V Method

An experimental way for the thermal characterization ofsemiconductor lasers based on I-V method under pulse drivingconditions has been developed, with which the thermal characteristicsof strain compensated 1.3 μm InAsP/InGaAsP ridge waveguide MQW laserchips have been investigated. The results show that, by measuring andanalyzing the I- V characteristics under appropriate pulse drivingconditions at different has sink Temperatures, the thermal resistanceof the laser diodes could be easily deduced. The driving Current andjunction voltage waveforms of the laser ships under different pulsedriving Conditions are also discussed.

LASER INDUCED THERMAL LENS EFFECT

The thermal lens effect has emerged in recent years as a novel ,highly sensitive tool for the study of the very weak molecular absorption of light energy,This paper discusses the theory and technique of the thermal lens measurement.Some opplications of the thermal lens measurement are described.A mode-mismatched dual-beam thermal lens experimental arragement with a modulated probe beam ,designed by the authors.for trace analysis is presented,and its detection limit was found to be 4.1×10^-7 for Cu(Ⅱ) in ethanol and 80 mW excitation power.

Compact, temperature-stable multi-gigahertz passively modelocked semiconductor disk laser

We present a compact passively mode-locked semiconductor disk laser at 1045 nm. The gain chip without any post processing consists of 16 compressively strained In Ga As symmetrical step quantum wells in the active region. 3-GHz repetition rate, 4.9-ps pulse duration, and 30-mW average output power are obtained with 1.4 W of 808-nm incident pump power. The temperature stability of the laser is demonstrated to have an ideal shift rate of 0.035 nm/K of the lasing wavelength.

The Leap from Organic Light-Emitting Diodes to Organic Semiconductor Laser Diodes

In recent years,organic light-emitting device technology has expanded from organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs)to organic semiconductor laser diodes(OSLDs)with the progress of sophisticated molecular and device architectural designs.In OLEDs,the development of thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules has been intensively investigated recently.As a result,the internal quantum efficiency of OLEDs containing relatively simple aromatic compounds without precious metals has reached almost 100%.Furthermore,incorporating a distributed feedback resonator structure into the OLED architecture has yielded OSLDs that exhibit the features of current-pumped lasing.In this short review,the authors describe the recent paradigm shift from OLEDs to OSLDs,mainly fromthe perspective of materials innovation.

Control of gain and thermal carrier loss profiles for mode optimization in 980-nm broad-area vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Optical gain and thermal carrier loss distributions regarding current diffusion and various electric contact areas are investigated to improve the near-field modes from the ring-shape to a Gaussian-like configuration for extra-broad-area and oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. In this work an equivalent circuit network model is used. The resistance of the continuously-graded distributed Bragg reflectors （DBRs）, the current diffusion and the temperature effect due to different electric-contact areas are calculated and analyzed at first, as these parameters affect one another and are the key factors in determining the gain and thermal carrier loss. Finally, the gain and thermal carrier loss distributions are calculated and discussed.

Laser frequency locking based on the normal and abnormal saturated absorption spectroscopy of ^(87)Rb

We present a practical method to avoid the mis-locking phenomenon in the saturated-absorption-spectrum laser- frequency-locking system and set up a simple theoretical model to explain the abnormal saturated absorption spectrum. The method uses the normal and abnormal saturated absorption spectra of the same transition 52S1/2, F = 2-52P3/2, F1 = 3 saturated absorption of the 87Rb D2 resonance line. After subtracting these two signals with the help of electronics, we can obtain a spectrum with a single peak to lock the laser. In our experiment, we use the normal and inverse signals of the transitions 52S1/2, F = 2-52P3/2, F1 = 3 saturated absorption of the 87Rb D2 resonance line to lock a 780-nm distributed feedback （DFB） diode laser. This method improves the long-term locking performance and is suitable for other kinds of diode lasers.

An efficient approach to characterizing and calculating carrier loss due to heating and barrier height variation in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

It is important to determine quantitatively the internal carrier loss arising from heating and barrier height variation in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting quantum well laser （VCSEL）. However, it is generally difficult to realize this goal using purely theoretical formulas due to difficulty h, deriving the parameters relat^i~g to the quantum well structure. In this paper, we describe an efl：icient approach to characterizing and calculating the carrier loss due to the heating and the barrier height change in the VCSEL. In the method, the thermal carrier loss mechanism is combined with gain measurement and calculation. The carrier loss is re-characterized in a calculable form by constructing the threshold current and gain detuning-related loss current using the measured gain data and then substituting them for the quantum well-related parameters in the formula. The result can be expressed as a product of an exponential weight factor linked to the barrier height change and the difference between the threshold current and gain detuning-related loss current. The gain variation at cavity frequency due to thermal carrier loss and gain detuning processes is measured by using an AllnGaAs-AIGaAs VCSEL structure. This work provides a useful approach to analysing threshold and loss properties of the VCSEL, particularly, gain offset design for high temperature operation of VCSELs.

Suppressing the preferential σ-polarization oscillation in a high power Nd:YVO_4 laser with wedge laser crystal

We observe the phenomenon of priority oscillation of the unexpected a-polarization in high-power Nd：YVO4 ring laser. The severe thermal lens of the a-polarized lasing, compared with the n-polarized lasing, is the only reason for the phenomenon. By designing a wedge Nd：YVO4 crystal as the gain medium, the unexpected a-polarization is completely suppressed in the entire range of pump powers, and the polarization stability of the expected zc-polarized output is enhanced. With the output power increasing from threshold to the maximum power, no a-polarization lasing is observed. As a result, 25.3 W of stable single-frequency laser output at 532 nm is experimentally demonstrated.