Strained layer InGaAs/GaAs SCH SQW (Separate Confinement Heterostructure Single Quantum Well) lasers were

grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). Highly reliable CW (continuous wave) 980-nm, broad contact, pump lasers were

fabricated in stripe geometry using Schottky isolation and ridge waveguide construction. Threshold current densities of the

order of Jth ≈ 280 A/cm2 (for the resonator length L = 700 um) and differential efficiency η= 0.40 W/A (41%) from one

mirror were obtained. The record wall-plug efficiency for AR/HR coated devices was equal to 54%. Theoretical estimations

of above parameters, obtained by numerical modelling of devices were Jth ≈ 210 A/cm and η = 0.47 W/A from one mirror,

respectively. Degradation studies revealed that uncoated and AR/HR coated devices did not show any appreciable degradation

after 1500 hrs of CW operation at 35oC heat sink temperature at the constant optical power (50 mW) conditions.

The effect of modifications in epi-side (top) gold metallization on a thermal performance and on power roll-over of blue-vio- let III-N-based p-up edge-emitting ridge-waveguide laser diode (RW EEL) was explored in this paper. The calculations were carried out using a two-dimensional self-consistent electrical-thermal model combined with a simplified optical model tuned to a RW EEL fabricated in the Institute of High Pressure Physics (Unipress). Our results suggest that with proper modifica- tions in the III-N-based RW EEL, excluding modifications in its inner structure, it is possible to considerably improve the thermal performance and, thus, increase the maximal output power.

The double barrier separate confinement heterostructure (DBSCH) design aimed at reduction of vertical beam divergence and increase of catastrophic optical damage (COD) level for high power laser diodes (LDs) operation is presented. Insertion of thin, wide-gap barrier layers at the interfaces between waveguide and cladding layers of SCH gives an additional degree of freedom in design making possible more precise shaping of the optical field distribution in the laser cavity. By comparison with the large optical cavity (LOC) heterostructure design it has been shown that the low beam divergence emission of DBSCH LDs can be attributed to the soft-profiled field distribution inside the cavity. This ‘soft mode profile’ seems to determine narrow laser beam emission rather than the field distribution width itself.

The potential problem with the soft-profiled but relatively narrow (at half-maximum) mode distribution is a lower COD level. Widening of the mode profile by the heterostructure design corrections can increase it, but care must be taken to avoid excessive decrease of confinement factor (Γ). As a result it is shown that DBSCH design is possible, where the low beam divergence and high COD level is achieved simultaneously.

Wide stripe gain-guided LDs based on GaAsP/AlGaAs DBSCH SQW structures have been manufactured according to the design above. Gaussian-shaped narrow directional characteristics are in relatively good agreement with modelling predictions. Vertical beam divergences are 13–15◦ and 17–18◦ FWHM for design versions experimentally investigated. Threshold current densities of the order of 350–270 Acm-2 and slope efficiencies of 0.95 and 1.15 W/A have been recorded for these two versions, respectively. Optical power at the level of 1 W has been achieved. The version with lower beam divergence proves to be more durable. Higher optical power levels are to be obtained after heterostructure doping optimisation.

Vehicular visible light communication is an emerging technology that allows wireless communication between vehicles or between vehicles and infrastructure. In this paper, a vehicular visible light communication system is designed using a non-return to zero on-off keying modulation scheme under the effect of different weather conditions such as clear, haze, and fog. The first model is a light emitting diode-based system and the second is a laser diode-based system. For both models, the influence of system parameters such as beam divergence, transceiver aperture diameters, and receiver responsivity is studied. The impact of the use of the trans-impedance amplifier is also investigated for both models. It was concluded that in the presence of the amplifier, output power of the light emitting diode and laser diode model are increased by 98.46 µW and 0.4719 W, respectively. The performance of the two proposed models is evaluated through bit error rate, quality factor, eye diagram, and output power to have some insightful results about the quality of service for the two proposed models. Under a specific weather condition, the performance of the system would be critical and other techniques should be applied. The maximum achievable link distance for the laser-based and light-emitting diode-based systems is 190 m at a data rate of 25 Gbps and 80 m at a data rate of 60 kbps, respectively, under the same system parameters and weather conditions. The obtained results provide a full idea about the availability of constructing our proposed model in a practical environment, showing a higher performance of the laser diode-based model than that of the light emitting diode-based model.

A variety of optoelectronic devices (rangefinders, velocity meters, terrestrial scanners, lidars, free space optics communication systems and others) based on semiconductor laser technology feature low−quality and highly asymmetric beams. It results from optical characteristics of the applied high−peak−power pulsed laser sources, which in most cases are composed of several laser chips, each containing one or a few active lasers. Such sources cannot be considered as coherent, so the resultant beam is formed by the superposition of many optically uncorrelated sub-sources. Far−field distribution of laser spots in such devices corresponds to the shape of laser emitting area, which instead of desired symmetry shows layout composed of one or several discrete lines or rectangles. In some applications, especially if small targets are concerned, it may be crucial to provide more symmetrical and uniform laser beam cross−section. In the paper, the novel strategy of such correction, combining coherent and incoherent approaches, is presented. All aspects of technological implementations are discussed covering general theoretical treatment of the problem, diffractive optical element (DOE) design in the form of computer generated hologram (CGH), its fabrication and testing in case of selected laser module beam correction.