Search Results
Mode transitions in distributed-feedback tapered master-oscillator power-amplifier
Theoretical and experimental investigations have been carried out to study the spectral and spatial behavior of monolithically integrated distributed-feedback tapered master-oscillators power-amplifiers emitting around 973 nm. Introduction of self and cross heating effects and the analysis of longitudinal optical modes allows us to explain experimental results. The results show a good qualitative agreement between measured and calculated characteristics.
Traveling wave analysis of non-thermal far-field blooming in high-power broad-area lasers
With rising current the lateral far-field angle of high-power broad-area lasers widens (far-field blooming) which can be partly attributed to non-thermal effects due to carrier induced refractive index and gain changes that become the dominant mechanism under pulsed operation. To analyze the non-thermal contribution to far-field blooming we use a traveling wave based model that properly describes the injection of the current into and the diffusion of the carriers within the active region. Although no pre-assumptions regarding the modal composition of the field is made and filamentation is automatically accounted for, the highly dynamic time-dependent optical field distribution can be very well represented by only few modes of the corresponding stationary waveguide equation obtained by a temporal average of the carrier density and field intensity. The reduction of current spreading and spatial holeburning by selecting proper design parameters can substantially improve the beam quality of the laser.
Dynamics in high-power diode lasers
High-power broad-area diode lasers (BALs) exhibit chaotic spatio-temporal dynamics above threshold. Under high power operation, where they emit tens of watts output, large amounts of heat are generated, with significant impact on the laser operation. We incorporate heating effects into a dynamical electro-optical (EO) model for the optical field and carrier dynamics along the quantum-well active zone of the laser. Thereby we effectively couple the EO and heat-transport (HT) solvers. Thermal lensing is included by a thermally-induced contribution to the index profile. The heat sources obtained with the dynamic EO-solver exhibit strong variations on short time scales, which however have only a marginal impact on the temperature distribution. We consider two limits: First, the static HT-problem, with time-averaged heat sources, which is solved iteratively together with the EO solver. Second, under short pulse operation the thermally induced index distribution can be obtained by neglecting heat flow. Although the temperature increase is small, a waveguide is introduced here within a few-ns-long pulse resulting in significant near field narrowing. We further show that a beam propagating in a waveguide structure utilized for BA lasers does not undergo filamentation due to spatial holeburning. Moreover, our results indicate that in BALs a clear optical mode structure is visible which is neither destroyed by the dynamics nor by longitudinal effects.
Improving the modulation bandwidth in semiconductor lasers by passive feedback
We explore the concept of passive-feedback lasers for direct signal modulation at 40 Gbit/s. Based on numerical simulation and bifurcation analysis, we explain the main mechanisms in these devices which are crucial for modulation at high speed. The predicted effects are demonstrated experimentally by means of correspondingly designed devices. In particular a significant improvement of the modulation bandwidth at low injection currents can be demonstrated.
Time-dependent simulation of thermal lensing in high-power broad-area semiconductor lasers
We propose a physically realistic and yet numerically applicable thermal model to account for short and long term self-heating within broad-area lasers. Although the temperature increase is small under pulsed operation, a waveguide that is formed within a few-ns-long pulse can result in a transition from a gain-guided to an index-guided structure, leading to near and far field narrowing. Under continuous wave operation the longitudinally varying temperature profile is obtained self-consistently. The resulting unfavorable narrowing of the near field can be successfully counteracted by etching trenches.
Efficient coupling of inhomogeneous current spreading and dynamic electro-optical models for broad-area edge-emitting semiconductor devices
We extend a 2 (space) + 1 (time)-dimensional traveling wave model for broad-area edgeemitting semiconductor lasers by a model for inhomogeneous current spreading from the contact to the active zone of the laser. To speedup the performance of the device simulations, we suggest and discuss several approximations of the inhomogeneous current density in the active zone.
Modeling of current spreading in high-power broad-area lasers and its impact on the lateral far field divergence
The effect of current spreading on the lateral farfield divergence of highpower broadarea lasers is investigated with a timedependent model using different descriptions for the injection of carriers into the active region. Most simulation tools simply assume a spatially constant injection current density below the contact stripe and a vanishing current density beside. Within the driftdiffusion approach, however, the injected current density is obtained from the gradient of the quasiFermi potential of the holes, which solves a Laplace equation in the pdoped region if recombination is neglected. We compare an approximate solution of the Laplace equation with the exact solution and show that for the exact solution the highest farfield divergence is obtained. We conclude that an advanced modeling of the profiles of the injection current densities is necessary for a correct description of farfield blooming in broadarea lasers.
Efficient coupling of electro-optical and heat-transport models for broad-area semiconductor lasers
In this work, we discuss the modeling of edge-emitting high-power broad-area semiconductor lasers. We demonstrate an efficient iterative coupling of a slow heat transport (HT) model defined on multiple vertical-lateral laser cross-sections with a fast dynamic electro-optical (EO) model determined on the longitudinal-lateral domain that is a projection of the device to the active region of the laser. Whereas the HT-solver calculates temperature and thermally-induced refractive index changes, the EO-solver exploits these distributions and provides time-averaged field intensities, quasi-Fermi potentials, and carrier densities. All these time-averaged distributions are used repetitively by the HT-solver for the generation of the heat sources entering the HT problem solved in the next iteration step.
Beam combining scheme for high-power broad-area semiconductor lasers with Lyot-filtered reinjection: Modeling, simulations, and experiments
A brightness- and power-scalable polarization beam combining scheme for high-power, broadarea semiconductor laser diodes is investigated numerically and experimentally. To achieve the beam combining, we employ Lyot-filtered optical reinjection from an external cavity, which forces lasing of the individual diodes on interleaved frequency combs with overlapping envelopes and enables a high optical coupling efficiency. Unlike conventional spectral beam combining schemes with diffraction gratings, the optical coupling efficiency is insensitive to thermal drifts of laser wavelengths. This scheme can be used for efficient coupling of a large number of laser diodes and paves the way towards using broad-area laser diode arrays for cost-efficient material processing, which requires high-brilliance emission and optical powers in the kW-regime.
Numerical methods for accurate description of ultrashort pulses in optical fibers
We consider a one-dimensional first-order nonlinear wave equation (the so-called forward Maxwell equation, FME) that applies to a few-cycle optical pulse propagating along a preferred direction in a nonlinear medium, e.g., ultrashort pulses in nonlinear fibers. The model is a good approximation to the standard second-order wave equation under assumption of weak nonlinearity. We compare FME to the commonly accepted generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which quantifies the envelope of a quickly oscillating wave field based on the slowly varying envelope approximation. In our numerical example, we demonstrate that FME, in contrast to the envelope model, reveals new spectral lines when applied to few-cycle pulses. We analyze and compare pseudo-spectral numerical schemes employing symmetric splitting for both models. Finally, we adopt these schemes to a parallel computation and discuss scalability of the parallelization.