Microsecond pulse-mode operation of a micro-integrated high-power external-cavity tapered diode laser at 808  nm

We investigate microsecond pulse-mode operation of a micro-integrated high-power diode laser based on volume Bragg grating external-cavity feedback around 808 nm. The laser system contains a tapered amplifier consisting of a ridge-waveguide section and a tapered section with separated electrical contacts. Thus, the diode laser system can be pulsed by modulating the injected current either to the ridge waveguide section (I) or to the tapered amplifier section (I). With a trigger signal of a 50 µs pulse width and a 10 kHz repetition rate, comparing the modulation depth, peak output power, beam propagation factor, and spectral bandwidth, we conclude that the pulse-mode operation achieved by modulating the I gives better results than by modulating the I due to the decreased thermal effect. At a constant I of 0.2 A and a modulated I of 6.0 A, 4.3 W of peak output power is obtained with an emission spectral bandwidth with an upper bound of 0.2 nm, and a beam propagation factor in the slow axis, Mslow2, of 2.6 (1/e²). The modulation depth is almost 100%. The results show that the tapered diode laser system may be a good candidate for microsecond pulse-mode solid-state lasers.