The Laser Diode

Jason Hill
Physics 464 – Applied Optics
3/1/05
 Agenda
‹ How a Laser Diode Works
• Laser Diode compared to Diode and LED
• Homojunction vs. Heterojunction
• Edge emitting lasers vs. VCSELs
‹ Industrial Applications of the LD
• Laser Pointers
‹ Red & Green lasers
• CD/DVD-ROM
‹ Blue, Violet, Ultra-Violet?
 How a Laser Diode Works

Edge Emitting Laser Diode

‹ Operates similar to a Light Emitting Diode

¾ Active medium is a semiconductor p-n junction
¾ LED utilizes spontaneous emission of radiation
¾ Fabry-Perot cavity produces stimulated emission of radiation
‹ Light is emitted diffracted
¾ A collimator is needed to focus the beam
 How a Laser Diode Works

Collimating Lens Laser Diode

Edge Emitting

‹ Operates similar to a Light Emitting Diode

¾ Active medium is a semiconductor p-n junction
¾ LED utilizes spontaneous emission of radiation
¾ Fabry-Perot cavity produces stimulated emission of radiation
‹ Light is emitted diffracted
¾ A collimator is needed to focus the beam
Edge Emitting vs. Surface Emitting
‹ Edge emitting laser: light emission is through the
cleaved edge of the laser. Edge emitters are difficult to
integrate in large numbers
‹ Surface emitting laser: much smaller and can be
integrated in large numbers on a substrate wafer, much
easier to test individually while still on the wafer
 VCSELs
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers
‹ Very short optical cavity
(1-3 λ)

‹ Quantum wells are used to

control optical properties

‹ Require highly reflective

mirrors (99.9% vs. 30%)

‹ Metallic mirrors are

replaced with Distributed
Bragg Reflectors (DBRs)
Metallic Reflector VCSEL
 VCSELs
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers
‹ Very short optical cavity
(1-3 λ)

‹ Quantum wells are used to

control optical properties

‹ Require highly reflective

mirrors (99.9% vs. 30%)

‹ Metallic mirrors are

replaced with Distributed
Bragg Reflectors (DBRs)
Etched Well VCSEL
 VCSELs
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers
‹ Very short optical
cavity (1-3 λ)

‹ Quantum wells are

used to control
optical properties

‹ Require highly
reflective mirrors
(99.9% vs. 30%) Air Post VCSEL
 VCSELs
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers
‹ Very short optical cavity
(1-3 λ)

‹ Quantum wells are used to

control optical properties

‹ Require highly reflective

mirrors (99.9% vs. 30%)

‹ Metallic mirrors are

replaced with Distributed
Bragg Reflectors (DBRs)
Buried Regrowth VCSEL
Comparison of Red and Green Laser Pointers
 Potassium titany phosphate (KTiOPO4) nonlinear crystal
Neodymium
doped yttrium orthovanadate
 Use of LDs for Optical Storage
‹ Diffraction limits the size of a focused beam to a
spot with a width on the order of the wavelength
of the light emitted, therefore the wavelengths
limits the density of data storage: shorter
wavelengths enable higher storage density

*This is actually an inaccurate representation

of how the data would be arranged, optical
devices use EFM, EFM+
Typical CD-ROM Optical Pickup
 Resources
“Blue LEDs and Lasers.” eurotechnology.com. 15 Sept. 2004. 26 Feb.
2005

Dupuis, Russell D. “The Diode Laser, The First 30 Days, 40 Years Ago.”
Optics & Photonics News Apr. 2004. 27 Jan. 2005

Goldwasser, Samuel M. “Diode Lasers.” Sam’s Laser FAQ. 19 Dec.

2004. 28 Jan. 2005

“Laser Diode.” Radio Electronics.com. 28 Jan. 2005. Adrio

Communications Ltd. 28 Jan. 2005

Suematsu, Y,. Semiconductor Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits.

London: Chapman & Hall, 1994.