Lecture 9/1

Diode laser emission

y

x z

Diode laser emission has elliptical cross-section. Y-axis with large divergence angle is called fast axis X-axis with smaller divergence angle is called slow axis

Lecture 9/2

Laser emission: beam divergence and astigmatism

y x less than 1m from 2 to 200m

LASER OUTPUT FACET

Y dY X
Beam emitted from a small facet is equivalent to the beam emitted by an imaginary point source P. When dX is larger than dY the distance between PX and PY can be nonzero. This phenomenon is called astigmatism, and the distance between PX and PY is the numerical description of astigmatism.

Side View

dX
Top View

PX

PY

Lecture 9/3

Laser emission: far and near field emission patterns

Field emitted from the laser NEAR FIELD - E(x,y)
y x z

di2 At distances larger than

FAR FIELD EF(X,Y)

R Y

Angle distribution of the optical field far from the laser mirror

Spatial distribution of the optical field across laser mirror

In paraxial approximation (small angles) and for X=0, at R from facet cos 2 Y 2 E 0, y exp j k 0 y sin Y E F 0, Y = 2 2 0 R

))dy

Lecture 9/9

Measurements of the laser near field General approach is to amplify image of the laser output facet and project it on video camera.
F

1 1 1 + = A B F M=B A

Magnification of 10-100 times or more is required for well resolved image

* Near field microscopy is another option: fiber tip is scanned with submicron resolution along laser output facet. This technique is accurate and free from aberrations that could be introduced by imaging optics.

Lecture 9/10

Measurements of the laser far field

Scanning of the single detector Detector array (CCD) or Vidicon camera

High resolution true far field for all angles Slow and only one dimension at a time

Fast image of the 2D far field pattern Easy alignment and adjustment Special optics required due to limited size of the photosensitive matrix

Lecture 9/11

Typical diode laser transverse (Y) far field pattern

1.0

0 =1.5 m
Normalized Intensity

d=260nm n 1 =3.17 n 2 =3.33

0.5

FWHM ~ 40

Approximate expression for full angle at half intensity for small d

(rad ) 4

n2 2

2 n1

d 0

Single mode operation (diffraction limited beam)

0.0 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 Transverse Angle (Degree)

Beam divergence is current independent

Lecture 9/12

y x

Lateral optical confinement (X-direction)

Weakly Index-guided Strongly Index-guided

Gain-guided

Oxide-Stripe Current Confinement Gain modifies Im I(x) leads to Im(x) Multimode Im index step ~ 0.001 *Dependent on pumping level *Antiguiding

Ridge Current Confinement Optical Confinement Re(x) & Im(x) Single mode Refractive index step < 0.01 *Antiguiding *Expensive

CMBH Current Confinement Optical Confinement Re(x) Stable single mode Refractive index step >0.1 *Very expensive

Lecture 9/13

Lateral (X) far field pattern of wide stripe (200m) gain guided laser
1.0
=1.5 m

STRIPE 200 m
Normalized Power
0

Multimode operation
17

0.5

Beam divergence is current dependent and orders of magnitude higher than diffraction limited

0.0 -20

-10

10

20

Lateral Angle (Degree)

Lecture 9/14

Ridge waveguide lasers and effective index technique Metal contact Isolator n~2 n1 n2 n1 Etch depth 1. Find transverse effective indexes in ridge and etched sections, nridge and netched 2. Use nridge and netched to find lateral field distribution with effective index nlateral 3. Use nridge for transverse near/far field calculations and nlateral for lateral near/far field calculations.
ridge etched region *Current spreading and gain guiding are usually important and should be taken into account.

etched region

* For CMBH devices lateral and transverse waveguide dimensions are comparable and exact 2D waveguide problem should be solved numerically.

Lecture 9/10

The effective refractive index

y z n1 n2 n3 m=1 neff_1 m=2 neff_2 m=3 neff_3 In y-direction the standing wave is formed. Optical field is not fully confined in region with refractive index n2 but has an exponentially decaying tails within regions n1 and n3. Effective refractive index can be understood as the weighted average between n1, n2 and n3 if optical field exists in all these regions.

ZigZag waves model can be applied and m can be assigned to each mode
total internal reflection

k z_m = k sin ( m ) = k y_m = k cos( m ) =

n1
y z

2 2 n sin ( m ) = n eff_m 0 0 2 n cos( m ) = 0

n2

m
n3

k=

2 n 0

2 2 n 1 - sin 2 ( m ) = n2 - n2 eff_m 0 0

total internal reflection sin(m)>n3/n2

Mode effective refractive index determines shape and group velocity for a given mode