Integrated wavelength control for diode-pumped lasers

Driven by ever-increasing commercial demand and by government initiatives, the performance of semiconductor pump lasers has continually improved in terms of energy efficiency, available output power and overall package reliability. This paper describes a unique approach to further improvement of pump diode laser performance. By adding a monolithic semicondutor grating to a multimode semiconductor laser cavity, the spectral match between it and the rare-earth-doped gain medium it pumps is improved. Furthermore, this match is stabilized against changes in the diode's operating temperature.