Abstract

State-of-the-art fused silica fibers have both minimum attenuation and minimum dispersion in the 1. 1 - 1. 3 μm region. Diode lasers with emission wavelengths in this region would therefore be optimum light sources for fiber optic communication systems, if they had long enough operating lifetimes. Room-temperature cw operation of GalnAsP/InP double-heterostructure (DH) diode lasers emitting at about 1.1 μm has been reported by Hsieh, Rossi, and Donnelly. In this paper we report the results obtained to date in the first life tests of such devices. The first laser tested has been in continuous cw operation at room temperature in air for over 1000 hours, the second for over 600 hours, without degradation in performance. Both lasers, which emit at 1. 15 μm, are still in operation.

© 1977 Optical Society of America