Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-k7p5g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T13:06:17.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

34 - The optics of semiconductor diode lasers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Masud Mansuripur
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
Get access

Summary

Robert N. Hall, born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1919, joined General Electric's Research and Development Center after graduating from the California Institute of Technology. In 1962, having realized that a semiconductor junction could support population inversion, Hall built the first semiconductor injection laser. This device, based on a specially designed p-n junction, operated when an electric current injected the electrons directly into the junction, thus allowing for highly efficient generation of coherent light from a compact source. Today, diode lasers based on Hall's original idea are used, among other places, in CD and DVD players, laser printers, and fiber-optic communication systems.

In this chapter we describe the basic features of the beam of light emitted by a diode laser, and discuss methods to analyze and manipulate this beam. Collimation and beam-shaping with a pair of cylindrical lenses will be shown to be a simple and flexible method that may be applied not only to diode lasers but also to beams emerging from optical fibers.

Characteristics of diode lasers

A semiconductor diode laser shown schematically in Figure 34.1 consists of a gain layer (only a few ten nanometers thick), surrounded by guiding layers for confining the laser mode. The guiding layers' index of refraction is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding regions (substrate and cladding), thus permitting confinement by total internal reflection.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adapted from <web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventors>.
Casperson, L. W. and Yariv, A., Gain and dispersion focusing in a high gain laser, Applied Optics 11, 462–466 (1972).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, F. R., Mode guidance parallel to the junction plane of double-heterostructure GaAs lasers, J. Appl. Phys. 44, 4696–4707 (1973).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, D. D. and Nash, F. R., Gain-induced guiding and astigmatic output beam of GaAs lasers, J. Appl. Phys. 46, 1660–1672 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×