Abstract

Temperature dependence of wall-plug efficiency of high power laser diodes is theoretically analyzed in terms of experimentally measured parameters of the device. This issue has an influence on the available power output and on the degradation mechanism. High power laser diodes have become increasingly important as the output power of such devices continues to rise. The present calculations revealed that the decrease of wall-plug efficiency with temperature could be explained, presumably in terms of excess voltage loss and internal waveguide optical loss. Understanding the dynamic mechanism of the decrease of efficiency can lead to optimum operating conditions of the device. Thermally rolling power runaway is found to be an important factor in the high power laser diodes degradation and eventually to device failure

Key words: Laser diodes, high power, wall-plug efficiency, internal loss, waveguide loss.