High-power, fundamental transverse mode laser
AssigneeAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsAndrew G. Dentai, Gadi Eisenstein, Enrique A. J. Marcatili, Rodney S. Tucker
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Abstract
High-power, single transverse mode laser operation is achieved in an extended-cavity structure by combining a semiconductor gain medium having a large optical cavity together with a length of single mode optical fiber between first and second reflector surfaces. The first reflector surface is formed on an end facet of the semiconductor gain medium; the second reflector surface is formed on an end of the optical fiber. Output power is efficiently coupled from the fiber end of the extended-cavity laser to a standard transmission medium.
Claims6
An optical source comprising
- first and second reflectors separated from and opposite to each other for forming a single resonant optical cavity,
- a semiconductor gain medium having a major surface including a stripe contact extending longitudinally and transversely along said major surface for defining a large optical cavity in a volume of said gain medium thereunder, said semiconductor gain medium for generating a high-power optical signal by spontaneous emission,
- a single-mode optical fiber coupled to said semiconductor gain medium responsive to said high-power optical signal for causing a fundamental transverse mode optical signal to be amplified by said gain medium,
- said semiconductor gain medium and said single-mode optical fiber being disposed within said single resonant optical cavity formed by said reflectors, said optical source for producing stimulated coherent radiation in a fundamental transverse mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.