Master oscillator power amplifier 3D assemblies based on grating coupled laser diodes (Proceedings Paper)

O.V. Smolski^a, J.K. O’Daniel^b, E.G. Johnson^a, P. Leisher^c, P. Crump^d

^a Optoelectronics Center, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC USA 28223
^b Photodigm, Inc., 1155 E Collins Blvd #200, Richardson, TX USA 75081
^c nLight Corp, 5408 NE 88th Ste, Bldg E, Vancouver, WA, USA 98665
^d Ferdinand-Braun-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 4, D-12489 Berlin, Germany

Published in:
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6909 690919-6.
© SPIE 2008. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the SPIE.

Abstract:
We report on novel architectures of the hybrid master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) assemblies incorporating vertically stacked surface-emitting laser diodes. Optical coupling between the MO and the PA is provided by nonresonant grating couplers integrated on both of the devices. The MOPA consists of a MO chip with dual grating reflector for single wavelength operation and a flared PA chip with two grating outcouplers. Optical peak power over 100W and spectral bandwidth of 0.2nm were achieved from the single MOPA while the MO operated in the gain-switching regime and the PA operated as a traveling wave amplifier. New designs of coherent MOPA arrays are proposed based on a phase locked MO bar and a single transverse mode PA bar. This MOPA assembly requires an optical cross-coupling between the bars provided by tilted gratings which have been developed and experimentally evaluated.

Keywords:
high power diode laser, tapered amplifier, grating couplers, master oscillator power amplifier.

Full version in pdf-format.