Abstract

The suppression of beam-profile filamentation is a challenging task for semiconductor laser amplifiers. In recent times, diffraction-limited, high-power amplification up to 5 W CW and 21 W under pulsed operation has been achieved [1]. In order to obtain high-power amplification with good beam quality, we have used the beam propagation method (BPM) to simulate the disturbance of the refractive index variation. In this paper, we will discuss different mechanisms of the beam filamentation and methods to avoid it.

© 1996 IEEE