Increasing the Catastrophic Optical Damage Threshold to 500 mW in 800–900 nm SLDs with Broadened Waveguide Layers

Abstract

The effect of waveguide layer thickness on basic characteristics of high-power superluminescent diodes (SLDs) emitting in the 800–900 nm spectral range has been investigated. These were based on separate-confinement heterostructures within the system of AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs materials fabricated by the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. The catastrophic optical damage (COD) threshold is shown to increase with increasing waveguide layer thickness, while the far-field divergence and differential quantum efficiency remain at acceptable levels. It is demonstrated that the maximum optical output power of SLDs can reach 500 mW in continuous-wave (CW) mode while maintaining a single-transverse-mode regime.