Development of Low-Cost Multi-Watt Yellow Lasers Using InGaAs/GaAs Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers
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1076-K07-03
Development of Low-Cost Multi-Watt Yellow Lasers Using InGaAs/GaAs Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers Mahmoud Fallahi1, Li Fan1, Chris Hessenius1, Jorg hader2, Hongbo Li2, Jerome Moloney2, Wolfgang Stolz3, Stephan Koch3, and James Murray4 1 College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721 2 ACMS, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721 3 Philipps Universitat, Marburg, Germany 4 Arate Associates, Longmont, CO, 80501 ABSTRACT We demonstrate a highly strained InGaAs/GaAs VECSEL operating at 1173 nm with more than 8.5 W output power and tunable over 40 nm. High-efficiency yellow-orange emission is then achieved by intra-cavity frequency doubling. Over 5 W of CW output power in the 585589 nm spectral regions is achieved. This compact low-cost high-power yellow-orange laser provides an innovative alternative for sodium guidestar lasers or other medical / communication applications.
INTRODUCTION Laser sources covering 570-590 nm bands are of great interest for sodium guidestar lasers, quantum computing, dermatology and ophthalmology applications [1-3]. Despite these major benefits, the development of these yellow-orange lasers has been very limited, mainly because it is hard to find active materials with direct transition in this band. Nonlinear frequency conversions have been frequently used to generate emission in the yellow-orange range. Several methods including frequency doubling of Yb solid-state lasers [4], frequencies doubling of Raman-shifted Yb (Nd) lasers [5], sum-frequency generation in solid state lasers [6] and frequency doubling of Bi-doped fiber lasers [7] have been investigated. Unfortunately the majority of these approaches suffer from limited emission range, low output power or high cost. Semiconductor lasers are very attractive for their high-gain, low-cost and large volume production capability and are widely used in the near IR range for optical communication. However due to their limited direct band-gap energy, a range of visible emission wavelengths are hard to be directly fabricated. Optically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) using multiquantum well semiconductors are very attractive for low-cost high-power high-brightness sources [8, 9]. In addition, by having access to the intracavity, several attractive features such as wavelength tuning, frequency doubling for visible generation and Q-switching can be achieved.
DESIGN AND FABRICATION Strained InGaAs/GaAs multi-quantum well lasers are widely used for the generation of 900-1000 nm lasers. Here we report on the development and demonstration of a highly strained
InGaAs/GaAs VECSEL which can cover a significantly longer wavelength range of 1147 nm 1197 nm. Very robust multi-Watt high-brightness performance at room temperature is demonstrated. Using intracavity frequency doubling we demonstrate high-power coherent emission in a wide yellow-orange band (575 ~595 nm). This low-cost compact wavelength agile laser is an attractive candidate to replace existing yellow sour
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