Efficient, High Brightness 1030 nm DBR Tapered Diode Lasers With Optimized Lateral Layout

Efficient, high brightness 1030 nm distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered diode lasers with optimized lateral waveguide and grating designs are presented in this paper. The layout changes were carried out in order to enhance the diffraction efficiency of the manufactured DBR gratings and improve the spatial mode filtering for these lasers. In this study, lasers with straight waveguide and grating, straight waveguide and tapered grating, and tapered waveguide and straight grating are compared. The lasers provide an optical output power up to 15.5 W and narrowband emission over the whole power range. Within the studied parameter range, the highest central lobe output power of 10.1 W is obtained for a laser with a tapered grating. The layout comparison also shows that the influence of the applied ridge waveguide injection current density on the central lobe power is significantly different. Here, the lateral design with a tapered grating is the most robust layout. Compared to previous approaches for DBR tapered diode lasers, optimized waveguide and grating designs and their impact on laser performance may help to increase the application potential of such devices.