Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
09:10
Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics
Published on: April 24, 2014
1450-nm high-brightness wavelength-beam combined diode laser array
Juliet T Gopinath1, Bien Chann, T Y Fan
1Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lexington, MA 02420, USA. juliet@ll.mit.edu
Optics Express
|June 26, 2008
Summary
Researchers achieved 20-W continuous wave power from a 1450-nm diode laser array using a novel smile compensation technique. This method enhances beam combining for high-power laser applications.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Semiconductor Lasers
Background:
- Diode laser arrays are crucial for high-power laser generation.
- Achieving high beam quality in diode laser arrays is challenging due to manufacturing imperfections like smile.
- Wavelength beam combining (WBC) is a technique to increase output power while maintaining good beam quality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate wavelength beam combining of a 1450-nm diode laser array.
- To implement and validate a novel smile compensation method for improved laser performance.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a 25-element single bar 1450-nm diode laser array.
- Applied a novel smile compensation technique to mitigate array imperfections.
- Performed wavelength beam combining to merge the output of individual laser elements.
Main Results:
- Achieved a continuous wave (cw) output power of 20 W.
- The M-squared (M²) beam quality factor was measured as 1.9 in the fast axis.
- The M² in the wavelength-beam-combined dimension was 10.
Conclusions:
- The novel smile compensation method effectively enables high-power output from diode laser arrays.
- Demonstrated successful wavelength beam combining for 1450-nm diode lasers.
- The achieved power and beam quality are promising for various laser applications.
