Laser Diodes

There is importance in talking about laser diodes, it is an equipment that is used around

the world. Laser diodes are semiconductors with an extra region called i. The laser diode

begins with the study of radiation, which shows that energy is discrete and not continuous as

what was believed before. There are different types of laser diodes like the VECSEL and the

distributed Bragg reflector. Laser diodes have also different types of wavelengths. Laser diodes

have some excellent applications in the medical field and telecommunication industry. Laser

diodes are going to continue to be used, as lasers are capable technology that leads to higher

accuracy like distance measuring and precision body cutting for surgery.

The history of the laser diode begins with Max Plank in 1900, when studying radiation

and realize that energy comes in discrete chunks, which are called photons. Later in 1917, Albert

Einstein theorized how lasers can be made by electrons that admit light at a certain wavelength.

About 40 years later, Charles Hard Townes made an actual prototype of the laser, called maser

(acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), which showed that

Albert Einstein prediction was correct. The wavelength for the maser was about one centimeter

& generated 10 nanowatts of power. In 1960, the first patent came out for optical maser better

known as the laser (anonym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) which

has clearly benefited the world amazingly. In 1962, Nick Holoyak Jr. created the first laser diode,

when he was studying gallium arsenide phosphide, which is a chemical that is compact &

efficient light source, which, is used in so many products like DVD players and cellphones. Later

came all the different type of laser diodes that we see today, for example, the quantum-well laser,

which was invented in 1975.

 Laser diodes are like any regular diodes, which are semiconductor, but one critical

difference from the regular diode is the three types of semiconductor materials of p, n, & i,

instead of the regular p type & n type. Inside the PIN structure, electrons are moving

around the holes, in which energy is being released as photons. The process can be spontaneous

or simulated, in which the simulated leads to optical amplification & optical feedback like laser

oscillation. Most semiconductor lasers are laser diodes, but not always the case like the quantum

cascade laser & the optical pumped semiconductor laser. The optical pumped semiconductor

laser can be made out of un-doped semiconductor material, but the negative side effect is it

cannot produce enough current. Laser diodes behave like any other diodes; current flows happen

when the diode hits critical voltage & then there is rapid rise in current. The difference between

the regular diode & the laser diode is the regular diode usual operating voltage of 0.7 volts, while

the laser diode has no fixed critical voltage, due to the effect of the laser diodes temperature. This

could lead to disastrous result, as if there was an operating point, that means current will start

rising quickly, which would lead to higher temperature, which would melt the laser diode.

There are different types of laser diode & one of them is a VECSEL (vertical external

cavity surface-emitting laser), which can make high optical power, which leads to high quality

laser beam. The VECSEL laser diode which uses Bragg mirror (which is a mirror that alternates

two different types of optical material) & active region of a bunch of quantum wells. The

quantum well is a thin layer that force particles like electron & holes to be perpendicular to the

semiconductor medium to product the quantum effect. The semiconductor material is usually a

few micrometers thick. One of the downsides of the VECDEL laser is dissipating heat, but there

are solutions, one is using an extremely thin semiconductor material & the other is redirecting

the heat to the surface. This material can be made of sapphire & diamonds. The potential for
VECSEL laser diode is it is cheap, made for mass production & the wavelength can be modified

for any reason.

Another type of laser is the distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers, which also uses the

Bragg mirror. Most DBR lasers are usually laser diodes, but sometimes they can be fiber lasers.

DBR lasers are usually single-frequency laser with diffraction-limited output. Diffraction-limited

beam is to focus the laser beam to a small spots as high as possible with a constant wavelength.

The DBR laser can be used as a wavelength-tunable, which means that DBR laser diode can be

used as a fine tuning the wavelength of the laser beam. There is a thing called the Vernier effect

that can be exploited that DBR uses to fine tune wavelength up to 40 nanometers. DBR

application can be used for fiber optic communication and laser cooling.

There are different types of wave length that laser diodes operate in & is determined by

bandgap of the semiconductor material. One example is gallium nitride which has the wave

length of 380 to 470 nanometers which can be used for data storage. Another is gallium arsenide,

which has a bunch of wave length but used for different purpose. One of the them being from

635 to 670 nanometer which can be used for laser pointers and DVD players. Another is given as

720-850 nanometers, which can be used for CD players and laser printers. The last wavelength is

for gallium arsenide that has range from 900 to 1100 nanometers, which can be used for fiber

amplifiers. The last chemical is indium phosphide, which has the wavelength of 1000-1650

nanometers & can be used for optical fiber communications.

Some of the application of laser diodes are in the medical field, for example, surgical

treatments, which is explicit for photodynamic therapy, which is when a laser is beamed to kill

cancer cells. The benefit from photodynamic therapy is that the laser is precise, the surgery is

short and there is no long-term side effect when used properly. Cosmetics is another benefit from
laser diodes to remove hair where it is not wanted. Orthopedics uses laser diodes for muscle pain

like chest pain and back pain. A huge one that is made for people who cannot see well has been

LASIK surgery which uses argon laser. The only danger that can come from laser diode when

doing LASIK surgery, if done improperly, it can lead to blindness.

Another application of the laser diode is in the telecommunication industry. There are

five types of laser diodes with the wavelength having specific purpose as the first one is 0.8

micrometer which is for data movement for short distant. The second is 0.98 micrometer, which

is, used for pumping erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), which is made to intensify optical

signal inside the fiber optics. The third is 1.3 micrometer, which is, used for people who want

data speed of 150 megabits per second and can have a max of 2.5 gigabits per second. The forth

is 1.4 micrometer, which is for energy efficiency, which is great for high power use. The last one

is 1.5 micrometer, which is used for long distance telecommunication.

Laser diodes are important piece of equipment in semiconductor, which began with

Albert Einstein theorizing that electrons can admit light at a certain wavelength. Laser diodes are

similar to regular diodes except with two crucial difference with an extra region called the i

region and there is no set operating voltage. There are many different types of laser diodes but

two common ones being the VECSEL and distributed Bragg reflector. There are different types

of wavelength in the laser diode and one of them being the DVD player that uses from 635 to

670 nanometers. There are many applications for laser diodes like medical field for LASIK &

telecommunication industry for fiber optics. Laser diodes have shown their usefulness in many

aspects of human lives and yet to come.

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