Development of efficient monolithic surface-emitting laser diode arrays (Invited Paper)

Monolithic surface—emitting laser diodes (SELDs) and laser diode arrayswith 45° micromirrors offer great promise for both coherent and incoherent(solid state laser pumping) applications. Four basic types of SELDs havebeen developed to date, and are illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1 (a) and(b) devices are of the junction-down configuration, while Figure 1 (c) and(d) shows SELDs in the junction-up configuration. The former two types ofdevices have the heat-generating active region in close proximity to theheat sink, while the latter two have a thick (100 .Lm) GaAs substratebetween the active region and the device heat sink. Since GaAs is a poor