Mid-Wave IR and Long-Wave IR Semiconductor Laser Development

Abstract

Broad area quantum cascade lasers may preferentially operate in only a few high order modes rather than in a strongly multimode regime. We demonstrate that in such cases the high order mode can be converted into a single-lobed near diffraction-limited beam using an appropriate optic placed in the near field. Alternatively, high order modes can be strongly attenuated via slight sidewall etching. The result is to encourage fundamental mode lasing also leading to a very good far field beam. A third manner to influence the transverse modes is with feedback from an external mirror. The latter case can be used to create a plethora of modes albeit ones substantially less than the diffraction limit. The investigations demonstrate that broad area quantum cascade lasers (BA-QCLs) have the potential to simultaneously produce high power simultaneously with high brightness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 30, 2019
Accession Number
AD1089067

Entities

People

  • Andy Lu
  • R. Kaspi
  • Tim Newell

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Amplifiers
  • Brightness
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Microscopes
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Far Field
  • Laser Diodes
  • Lasers
  • Materials
  • Optical Properties
  • Quantum Cascade Lasers
  • Semiconductor Lasers
  • Semiconductors
  • Transverse

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing