Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) have proved to be versatile lasers which allow for various emission schemes which on the one hand include remarkably high-power multi-mode or single-frequency continuouswave operation, and on the other hand two-color as well as mode-locked emission. Particularly, the combination of semiconductor gain medium and external cavity provides a unique access to high-brightness output, a high beam quality and wavelength flexibility. Moreover, the exploitation of intra-cavity frequency conversion further extends the achievable radiation wavelength, spanning a spectral range from the UV to the THz. In this work, recent advances in the field of VECSELs are summarized and the demonstration of self-mode-locking (SML) VECSELs with sub-ps pulses is highlighted. Thereby, we present studies which were not only performed for a quantum-well-based VECSEL, but also for a quantum-dot VECSEL.

Date Published: 4 March 2015
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9349, Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) V, 934906 (4 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079182

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9349:
Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) V
Mircea Guina, Editor(s)