Extended Tunability in a Two-Chip VECSEL

Author

Fan, Li ; Fallahi, Mahmoud ; Zakharian, Aramais R. ; Hader, Jörg ; Moloney, Jerome V. ; Bedford, Robert ; Murray, James T. ; Stolz, Wolfgang ; Koch, Stephan W.

Author_Institution

Coll. of Opt. Sci., Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ

Volume

19

Issue

8

fYear

2007

fDate

4/15/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

544

Lastpage

546

Abstract

We demonstrate a widely tunable vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) with a W-shaped cavity, in which two VECSEL chips serve as fold mirrors and a birefringent filter is inserted at Brewster´s angle. These two chips provide much higher modal gain and broader bandwidth of the gain than a single chip does, enhancing the VECSEL tuning range and reducing the variation of tunable output power with the tuned wavelength. This two-chip VECSEL configuration makes it possible to shape the modal gain spectra of the laser or to manipulate the tuning curve of the laser by two different chips with certain gain peak detuning (offset). Multiwatts high-brightness linearly polarized output with a tuning range of 33 nm is demonstrated in such a two-chip VECSEL

Keywords

birefringence; laser cavity resonators; laser mirrors; laser tuning; light polarisation; optical filters; quantum well lasers; spectral line breadth; surface emitting lasers; Brewster angle; VECSEL tuning range; W-shaped cavity; birefringent filter; extended laser tunability; fold mirrors; gain peak detuning; high-brightness laser output; laser tuning curve; linearly polarized laser output; modal gain; modal gain spectra; multiwatt laser output; quantum well laser; spectral shaping; two-chip VECSEL; vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser; Bandwidth; Birefringence; Filters; Laser tuning; Mirrors; Polarization; Power generation; Surface emitting lasers; Tunable circuits and devices; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Birefringent filter (BF); optically pumped semiconductor laser; tunable linearly polarized vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2007.893898

Filename

4130453