Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second English edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Abbe's sine condition
- 2 Fourier optics
- 3 Effect of polarization on diffraction in systems of high numerical aperture
- 4 Gaussian beam optics
- 5 Coherent and incoherent imaging
- 6 First-order temporal coherence in classical optics
- 7 The van Cittert–Zernike theorem
- 8 Partial polarization, Stokes parameters, and the Poincaré sphere
- 9 Second-order coherence and the Hanbury Brown–Twiss experiment
- 10 What in the world are surface plasmons?
- 11 Surface plasmon polaritons on metallic surfaces
- 12 The Faraday effect
- 13 The magneto-optical Kerr effect
- 14 The Sagnac interferometer
- 15 Fabry–Pérot etalons in polarized light
- 16 The Ewald–Oseen extinction theorem
- 17 Reciprocity in classical linear optics
- 18 Optical pulse compression
- 19 The uncertainty principle in classical optics
- 20 Omni-directional dielectric mirrors
- 21 Linear optical vortices
- 22 Geometric-optical rays, Poynting's vector, and the field momenta
- 23 Doppler shift, stellar aberration, and convection of light by moving media
- 24 Diffraction gratings
- 25 Diffractive optical elements
- 26 The Talbot effect
- 27 Some quirks of total internal reflection
- 28 Evanescent coupling
- 29 Internal and external conical refraction
- 30 Transmission of light through small elliptical apertures
- 31 The method of Fox and Li
- 32 The beam propagation method
- 33 Launching light into a fiber
- 34 The optics of semiconductor diode lasers
- 35 Michelson's stellar interferometer
- 36 Bracewell's interferometric telescope
- 37 Scanning optical microscopy
- 38 Zernike's method of phase contrast
- 39 Polarization microscopy
- 40 Nomarski's differential interference contrast microscope
- 41 The van Leeuwenhoek microscope
- 42 Projection photolithography
- 43 Interaction of light with subwavelength structures
- 44 The Ronchi test
- 45 The Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor
- 46 Ellipsometry
- 47 Holography and holographic interferometry
- 48 Self-focusing in nonlinear optical media
- 49 Spatial optical solitons
- 50 Laser heating of multilayer stacks
- Index
- References
34 - The optics of semiconductor diode lasers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second English edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Abbe's sine condition
- 2 Fourier optics
- 3 Effect of polarization on diffraction in systems of high numerical aperture
- 4 Gaussian beam optics
- 5 Coherent and incoherent imaging
- 6 First-order temporal coherence in classical optics
- 7 The van Cittert–Zernike theorem
- 8 Partial polarization, Stokes parameters, and the Poincaré sphere
- 9 Second-order coherence and the Hanbury Brown–Twiss experiment
- 10 What in the world are surface plasmons?
- 11 Surface plasmon polaritons on metallic surfaces
- 12 The Faraday effect
- 13 The magneto-optical Kerr effect
- 14 The Sagnac interferometer
- 15 Fabry–Pérot etalons in polarized light
- 16 The Ewald–Oseen extinction theorem
- 17 Reciprocity in classical linear optics
- 18 Optical pulse compression
- 19 The uncertainty principle in classical optics
- 20 Omni-directional dielectric mirrors
- 21 Linear optical vortices
- 22 Geometric-optical rays, Poynting's vector, and the field momenta
- 23 Doppler shift, stellar aberration, and convection of light by moving media
- 24 Diffraction gratings
- 25 Diffractive optical elements
- 26 The Talbot effect
- 27 Some quirks of total internal reflection
- 28 Evanescent coupling
- 29 Internal and external conical refraction
- 30 Transmission of light through small elliptical apertures
- 31 The method of Fox and Li
- 32 The beam propagation method
- 33 Launching light into a fiber
- 34 The optics of semiconductor diode lasers
- 35 Michelson's stellar interferometer
- 36 Bracewell's interferometric telescope
- 37 Scanning optical microscopy
- 38 Zernike's method of phase contrast
- 39 Polarization microscopy
- 40 Nomarski's differential interference contrast microscope
- 41 The van Leeuwenhoek microscope
- 42 Projection photolithography
- 43 Interaction of light with subwavelength structures
- 44 The Ronchi test
- 45 The Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor
- 46 Ellipsometry
- 47 Holography and holographic interferometry
- 48 Self-focusing in nonlinear optical media
- 49 Spatial optical solitons
- 50 Laser heating of multilayer stacks
- Index
- References
Summary
Robert N. Hall, born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1919, joined General Electric's Research and Development Center after graduating from the California Institute of Technology. In 1962, having realized that a semiconductor junction could support population inversion, Hall built the first semiconductor injection laser. This device, based on a specially designed p-n junction, operated when an electric current injected the electrons directly into the junction, thus allowing for highly efficient generation of coherent light from a compact source. Today, diode lasers based on Hall's original idea are used, among other places, in CD and DVD players, laser printers, and fiber-optic communication systems.
In this chapter we describe the basic features of the beam of light emitted by a diode laser, and discuss methods to analyze and manipulate this beam. Collimation and beam-shaping with a pair of cylindrical lenses will be shown to be a simple and flexible method that may be applied not only to diode lasers but also to beams emerging from optical fibers.
Characteristics of diode lasers
A semiconductor diode laser shown schematically in Figure 34.1 consists of a gain layer (only a few ten nanometers thick), surrounded by guiding layers for confining the laser mode. The guiding layers' index of refraction is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding regions (substrate and cladding), thus permitting confinement by total internal reflection.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Classical Optics and its Applications , pp. 489 - 504Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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