Abstract
European Space Agency (ESA) considers Mode-Locked Semi-Conductor Laser (MLSCL) technology as a promising candidate for applications in precision optical metrology spaceborne systems such as High Accuracy Absolute Long Distance Measurement (HAALDM). Very challenging performance requirements should be met for these applications: pulse duration <; 1ps, pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 1-3 GHz, PRF stability <; 5·10-9, PRF tunability > 20MHz, average optical output power > 200 mW, pulse energy > 200pJ, high spatial beam quality (M2 <; 2.5) in addition to the space application requirements on launch vibrations, volume, weight, power consumption and efficiency. Previously, we have realized two types of passively mode-locked (ML) multiple section edge emitting lasers to address these challenging targets: (i) very long (13.5mm) monolithic tapered laser [1], and (ii) inverse bow-tie external cavity (EC) laser [2]. Both lasers are designed using the model from [3] and produce mode-locked pulses of 70-90pJ energy without amplifier stages. In this communication we report on the design, fabrication and testing of a novel monolithic tapered laser achieving pulse energy up to 200pJ from a solitary chip (Fig.1, panel (a)). While the epitaxial structure is the same as reported in [2] the tapered laser structure has now different cavity sections: two absorber sections, a tuning section and a gain section. The last one consists of the linear and the tapered waveguide parts and comprises beam spoilers in between the two parts.
Publication Reference
2019 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), Munich (Germany), pp. 1-1
Year
2019-06
