Abstract

Many applications exist in electro-optics for stable single-frequency laser diode sources. These uses include spectroscopy, squeezed light experiments, atomic clocks, magnetometry, gas sensing, ranging, and sources for frequency-doubled sources. Commercial single-mode distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diodes now produce output powers comparable to commercial single-mode Fabry-Perot laser diodes and are finding utility within many of the above applications.^1,2 Within this presentation, high-power tunable DBR laser diodes with single-mode output powers exceeding 200 mW cw are described. In addition, an 16,000 hr. ongoing lifetest on DBR laser diodes will be presented. These results represent over an order of magnitude increase in the output power of tunable DBR laser diodes and excellent proof that regrown AIGaAs laser diodes can have exceptional reliability.³

© 1996 Optical Society of America