Abstract

To date, the only semiconductor laser structures to reach 1 W cw diffraction-limited have been MOPAs and unstable resonators based on flared amplifiers, Recently, a new structure, the angled-grating distributed feedback laser (α-DFB) was demonstrated to provide a collimated, single-lobed, near-Gaussian output up to 650 mW cw diffraction-limited.¹ This device is based upon the narrow angular and wavelength selectivity of distributed reflection, from a tilted-angle embedded grating. The a-DFB laser utilizes grating selectivity to provide both spatial-and spectral-mode filtering over a large area active region. In this work, we describe an α-DFB laser with a record high collimated output to over 1 W cw in a single-spectral mode and an improved slope efficiency.

© 1996 Optical Society of America