Optical beam characteristics of Schottky barrier confined arrays of phase-coupled multiquantum well GaAs lasers
Abstract
The characteristics of phase-coupled laser arrays fabricated using Schottky barriers on the p-contact to confine the current flow to 5 or 10 stripes on 9-micron centers are examined. The far-field emission pattern of confined laser arrays with N lasers is investigated. The emission consists of two intense, narrow lobes, with N - 2 weaker interior lobes, and the relatively narrow emission pattern of the individual lasers, in the plane of the junction, significantly reduces the intensity outside of the two major lobes. The double-lobed far-field pattern results from a 180-deg phase shift between neighboring lasers in the array, and the remarkably smooth far-field pattern observed from the Schottky barrier confined lasers is attributed to the weak current confinement imposed by the Schottky contacts and the relatively low-resistance p-layers. Hence, the near-field pattern approaches the higher order mode pattern of a broad-area laser but retains some of the characteristics of a striped contact laser array.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
- Pub Date:
- November 1984
- DOI:
- 10.1109/JQE.1984.1072310
- Bibcode:
- 1984IJQE...20.1259V
- Keywords:
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- Far Fields;
- Gallium Arsenide Lasers;
- Integrated Optics;
- Optical Coupling;
- Phase Shift;
- Schottky Diodes;
- Emission Spectra;
- Luminous Intensity;
- Near Fields;
- Radiation Distribution;
- Lasers and Masers