Testing of high-power semiconductor laser bars

A measurement system called laser bar prober for characterizing high-power semiconductor edge-emitting laser bars is described. The laser bar prober is fully automated to handle testing of large numbers of lasers, is multifunctional to measure various laser characteristics and is accurate in predicting performance of fully mounted lasers. The bar prober has been proven to be an effective instrument for screening lasers during manufacturing process as well as an indispensable tool for providing rapid feedback to the development of new laser structures. In this paper, the design of the laser bar prober is described and a few examples of its applications are given; in particular, a time-resolved technique to correlate the measurement data of a laser within a laser bar to those of a fully mounted laser is demonstrated.