Abstract
Semiconductor laser technology has been advancing rapidly over the past several years. Recently, 12.5-W cw from laser diode 1-cm linear arrays have been demonstrated,1 while 8-W cw has been obtained from a 20-emitter 200-μm wide lasing aperture.2 Similarly, a double-ended power conversion efficiency of 57%3 and a single-ended efficiency of 54%4 have been achieved. Twodimensional hybrid stacked arrays emitting >3 kW of quasi-cw power5 and monolithic 2-D arrays demonstrating coherent summing of beams from multiple devices are now a reality.6
© 1988 Optical Society of America
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