Semiconductor lasers

Christopher C. Davis

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139016629.013

12 - Semiconductor lasers

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014

Christopher C. Davis

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Christopher C. Davis: Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park

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Summary

Introduction

The semiconductor laser, in various forms, is the most widely used of all lasers, is manufactured in the largest quantities, and is of the greatest practical importance. Every CD (compact disk), DVD (digital versatile disk or digital video disk), and Blu-ray player contains one. Most of the world's long-, and medium-, distance communication takes place over optical fibers along which propagate the beams from semiconductor lasers. Highpower semiconductor lasers are increasingly part of laser systems for engraving, cutting, welding, and medical applications. Semiconductor lasers operate by using the jumps in energy that can occur when electrons travel between semiconductors containing different types and levels of controlled impurities (called dopants). In this chapter we will discuss the basic semiconductor physics that is necessary to understand how these lasers work, and how various aspects of their operation can be controlled and improved. Central to this discussion will be what goes on at the junction between p- and n-type semiconductors. The ability to grow precisely doped single- and multi-layer semiconductor materials and fabricate devices of various forms – at a level that could be called molecular engineering – has allowed the development of many types of structure with which one can make efficient semiconductor lasers. In some respects the radiation from semiconductor lasers is far from ideal, since its coherence properties are far from perfect, being intermediate between those of a low-pressure gas laser and an incoherent line source.

Type: Chapter
Information: Lasers and Electro-optics
Fundamentals and Engineering
, pp. 301 - 360

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139016629.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

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