Open AccessHigh-power continuous-wave interband cascade lasers with 10 active stages
Author(s) -
Mijin Kim,
W. W. Bewley,
C. L. Canedy,
Chul Soo Kim,
Charles D. Merritt,
J. Abell,
I. Vurgaftman,
J. R. Meyer
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.23.009664
Subject(s) - cascade , optics , continuous wave , materials science , laser , slope efficiency , energy conversion efficiency , brightness , reflection (computer programming) , optoelectronics , semiconductor laser theory , laser beam quality , physics , laser beams , fiber laser , chemistry , chromatography , computer science , programming language
We report the pulsed and continuous wave (cw) performance of 10-stage interband cascade lasers (ICLs) emitting at both λ ≈3.2 μm and λ ≈3.45 μm. The slope efficiency is higher while the external differential quantum efficiency per stage remains about the same when comparison is made to earlier results for 7-stage ICLs with similar carrier-rebalanced designs. At T = 25°C, an 18-μm-wide ridge with 4.5 mm cavity length and high-reflection/anti-reflection coatings emits up to 464 mW of cw output power with beam quality factor M(2) = 1.9, for higher brightness than has ever been reported previously for an ICL. When the cavity length is reduced to 1 mm, both the 10-stage and 7-stage devices reach 18% cw wallplug efficiency at T = 25°C.