Edge-emitting quantum-well diode lasers based on GaAs combine a high conversion efficiency, a wide range of emission wavelengths covering a span from 630 nm to 1180 nm, and the ability to achieve high output powers. The often used longitudinal-invariant Fabry-Pérot-type resonators are easy to design but often lead to functionality or performance limitations. In this work, the application of laterally-longitudinally non-uniform resonator configurations is explored as a way to reduce unwanted and performance-limiting effects. The investigations are carried out on existing and entirely newly developed laser designs using dedicated simulation tools. These include a sophisticated time-dependent laser simulator based on a traveling-wave model of the optical fields in the lateral-longitudinal plane and a Maxwell solver based on the eigenmode expansion method for the simulation of passive waveguides. Whenever possible, the simulation results are compared with experimental data. Based on this approach, three fundamentally different laser types are investigated: • Dual-wavelength lasers emitting two slightly detuned wavelengths around 784 nm out of a single aperture • Ridge-waveguide lasers with tapered waveguide and contact layouts that emit light of a wavelength of around 970 nm • Broad-area lasers with slightly tapered contact layouts emitting at 910 nm The results of this thesis underline the potential of lateral-longitudinal non-uniform laser designs to increase selected aspects of device performance, including beam quality, spectral stability, and output power.

This reference book provides a fully integrated novel approach to the development of high-power, single-transverse mode, edge-emitting diode lasers by addressing the complementary topics of device engineering, reliability engineering and device diagnostics in the same book, and thus closes the gap in the current book literature. Diode laser fundamentals are discussed, followed by an elaborate discussion of problem-oriented design guidelines and techniques, and by a systematic treatment of the origins of laser degradation and a thorough exploration of the engineering means to enhance the optical strength of the laser. Stability criteria of critical laser characteristics and key laser robustness factors are discussed along with clear design considerations in the context of reliability engineering approaches and models, and typical programs for reliability tests and laser product qualifications. Novel, advanced diagnostic methods are reviewed to discuss, for the first time in detail in book literature, performance- and reliability-impacting factors such as temperature, stress and material instabilities. Further key features include: practical design guidelines that consider also reliability related effects, key laser robustness factors, basic laser fabrication and packaging issues; detailed discussion of diagnostic investigations of diode lasers, the fundamentals of the applied approaches and techniques, many of them pioneered by the author to be fit-for-purpose and novel in the application; systematic insight into laser degradation modes such as catastrophic optical damage, and a wide range of technologies to increase the optical strength of diode lasers; coverage of basic concepts and techniques of laser reliability engineering with details on a standard commercial high power laser reliability test program. Semiconductor Laser Engineering, Reliability and Diagnostics reflects the extensive expertise of the author in the diode laser field both as a top scientific researcher as well as a key developer of high-power highly reliable devices. With invaluable practical advice, this new reference book is suited to practising researchers in diode laser technologies, and to postgraduate engineering students.

Optoelectronic devices and fibre optics are the basis of cutting-edge communication systems. This monograph deals with the various components of these systems, including lasers, amplifiers, modulators, converters, filters, sensors, and more.

Until recently, ceramic materials were considered unsuitable for optics due to the numerous scattering sources, such as grain boundaries and residual pores. However, in the 1990s the technology to generate a coherent beam from ceramic materials was developed, and a highly efficient laser oscillation was realized. In the future, the technology derived from the development of the ceramic laser could be used to develop new functional passive and active optics. Co-authored by one of the pioneers of this field, the book describes the fabrication technology and theoretical characterization of ceramic material properties. It describes novel types of solid lasers and other optics using ceramic materials to demonstrate the application of ceramic gain media in the generation of coherent beams and light amplification. This is an invaluable guide for physicists, materials scientists and engineers working on laser ceramics.

The huge progress which has been achieved in the field is covered here, in the first comprehensive monograph on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) since eight years. Apart from chapters reviewing the research field and the laser fundamentals, there are comprehensive updates on red and blue emitting VCSELs, telecommunication VCSELs, optical transceivers, and parallel-optical links for computer interconnects. Entirely new contributions are made to the fields of vectorial three-dimensional optical modeling, single-mode VCSELs, polarization control, polarization dynamics, very-high-speed design, high-power emission, use of high-contrast gratings, GaInNAsSb long-wavelength VCSELs, optical video links, VCSELs for optical mice and sensing, as well as VCSEL-based laser printing. The book appeals to researchers, optical engineers and graduate students.