Abstract

Catastrophic optical damage (COD) limits the maximum available output power of the AIGaAs laser. If the COD level decreases during laser operation, it is very harmful in reliable laser operation. However, there have been no reports on the COD level alter long-time laser operation. We studied the operation time dependence of the COD level about window structure AIGaAs lasers and nonwindow structure lasers. It was found that the COD level of nonwindow structure lasers decreases rapidly in an early stage of operation (~50 h) and then decreases gradually, whereas that of the window structure laser does not decrease even after 10,000 h of laser operation.

© 1985 Optical Society of America