Abstract

A two-mirror beam-shaping technique, applied to the output of diode bars has produced the near circular beams ideally suited to end pumping.¹ Here we show that the same technique can be successfully applied to a broad-stripe diode, having a much smaller elongation of the emitter region than a diode bar. In fact a typical broad-stripe diode such as the one we have used (4 W cw output, 500 μm × 1 μm emitter) with M² values of ~100 and 1 in the junction plane and perpendicular to the plane respectively, has a brightness ~4 times greater than that of a diode bar. So the broad-stripe diode, with its beam shaped to be circular, would be an attractive source for end-pumping, particularly for low gain lasers and also for cladding-pumped fiber lasers.

© 1996 Optical Society of America