Quantum dot membrane external-cavity surface-emitting laser at 1.5 μm

Abstract

A membrane external-cavity surface-emitting laser (MECSEL) with an InAs/InP quantum dot (QD) based gain region is demonstrated. The pumping scheme employs a 90° off-axis parabolic mirror to focus the diode laser pump beam to a nearly circular pump spot. With this pump arrangement, the QD MECSEL with SiC heat spreaders produced 320 mW output power at room temperature with direct emission in the near-infrared at 1.5 μm. We report a record value of 86 nm for the tuning range at this wavelength region, owing to a broad QD gain bandwidth and wide tunability in MECSELs.