2020, Elatta, M., Brox, O., Della Casa, P., Maaßdorf, A., Martin, D., Wenzel, H., Knigge, A., Crump, P.

Broad-area diode lasers with increased brightness and efficiency are presented, which are fabricated using an enhanced self-aligned lateral structure by means of a two-step epitaxial growth process with an intermediate etching step. In this structure, current-blocking layers in the device edges ensure current confinement under the central stripe, which can limit the detrimental effects of current spreading and lateral carrier accumulation on beam quality. It also minimizes losses at stripe edges, thus lowering the lasing threshold and increasing conversion efficiency, while maintaining high polarization purity. In the first realization of this structure, the current block is integrated within an extreme-triple-asymmetric epitaxial design with a thin p-doped side, meaning that the distance between the current block and the active zone can be minimized without added process complexity. Using this configuration, enhanced self-aligned structure devices with 90 µm stripe width and 4 mm resonator length show up to 20% lower threshold current, 21% narrower beam waist, and slightly higher (1.03 ) peak efficiency in comparison to reference devices with the same dimensions, while slope, divergence angle and polarization purity remain almost unchanged. These results correspond to an increase in brightness by up to 25%, and measurement results of devices with varying stripe widths follow the same trend. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

2020, Boni, A., Wünsche, H.J., Wenzel, H., Crump, P.

Electrons and holes injected into a semiconductor heterostructure containing quantum wells are captured with a finite time. We show theoretically that this very fact can cause a considerable excess contribution to the series resistivity and this is one of the main limiting factors to higher efficiency for GaAs based high-power lasers. The theory combines a standard microscopic-based model for the capture-escape processes in the quantum well with a drift-diffusion description of current flow outside the quantum well. Simulations of five GaAs-based devices differing in their Al-content reveal the root-cause of the unexpected and until now unexplained increase of the series resistance with decreasing heat sink temperature measured recently. The finite capture time results in resistances in excess of the bulk layer resistances (decreasing with increasing temperature) from 1 mΩ up to 30 mΩ in good agreement with the experiment. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

2020, Koester, J.-P., Putz, A., Wenzel, H., Wünsche, H.-J., Radziunas, M., Stephan, H., Wilkens, M., Zeghuzi, A., Knigge, A.

The lateral brightness achievable with high-power GaAs-based laser diodes having long and broad waveguides is commonly regarded to be limited by the onset of higher-order lateral modes. For the study of the lateral-mode competition two complementary simulation tools are applied, representing different classes of approximations. The first tool bases on a completely incoherent superposition of mode intensities and disregards longitudinal effects like spatial hole burning, whereas the second tool relies on a simplified carrier transport and current flow. Both tools yield agreeing power-current characteristics that fit the data measured for 5-23 µm wide ridges. Also, a similarly good qualitative conformance of the near and far fields is found. However, the threshold of individual modes, the partition of power between them at a given current, and details of the near and far fields show differences. These differences are the consequence of a high sensitivity of the mode competition to details of the models and of the device structure. Nevertheless, it can be concluded concordantly that the brightness rises with increasing ridge width irrespective of the onset of more and more lateral modes. The lateral brightness W mm-1at 10 MW cm-2 power density on the front facet of the investigated laser with widest ridge (23 µm) is comparable with best values known from much wider broad-area lasers. In addition, we show that one of the simulation tools is able to predict beam steering and coherent beam coupling without introducing any phenomenological coupling coefficient or asymmetries. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.