Inverted-V chirped phased arrays of gain-guided GaAs/GaAlAs diode lasers

Abstract

Inverted-V chirped arrays of multiple quantum well GaAs/GaAlAs lasers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. These arrays consisted of seven gain-guided lasers whose stripe widths decreased, from the central laser to the outermost ones, symmetrically. This structure makes it possible to discriminate against the higher order array supermodes, which results in diffraction limited beams with a single lobe directed perpendicular to the laser facet. Single lobed far-field patterns, 3°–4° wide, were obtained from inverted-V chirped arrays operated up to 1.5Ith. The supermode structure of these arrays was identified by studying their spectrally resolved near fields.