Molecular-beam epitaxy growth of semiconductor heterostructure optical converter lasers using the InGaAs/AlGaAs materials system

Optically pumped semiconductor heterostructures offer a new way to fabricate lasers and amplifiers having high output powers and efficiencies together with low output beam divergences, beam aspect ratios, and thresholds. High-power diode-pumped InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor heterostructure optical converter (SHOC) lasers have been operated at output powers as high as 1.7 W continuous wave with an output beam divergence as low as ∼11° by ∼3° at the half-power points. The molecular-beam epitaxy grown 12–20-μm-thick InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures forming the SHOC laser cavities consist of distributed gain media over dielectric mirror stacks. Although the present devices have been optimized for efficient transverse pumping using external linear diode-laser arrays, designs that monolithically incorporate the pump with the SHOC structure are also feasible.