Abstract

Semiconductor diode lasers offer the benefits of high brightness, high efficiency, small size, and direct modulation. These sources are promising for a multitude of applications such as free space laser communications¹ and laser radar.² The development of single GaAlAs diode lasers has reached a high level of maturity in terms of power, efficiency, modulation capability and lifetime. However, narrow stripe diode lasers exhibiting good beam quality (high brightness) are typically limited to stripe widths of less than or equal to 8 µm.³ Also, facet damage problems limit outputs to 10-20 mW per micron of stripe width. Therefore, the maximum power that can be produced by good beam quality lasers is on the order of 100 mW.³ For these sources to produce higher output powers, the effective emitting area needs to be increased and/or several lasers ganged togeather in phase to form a phased array.

© 1991 Optical Society of America