DBR tapered diode laser with 12.7 W output power and nearly diffraction-limited, narrowband emission at 1030 nm

A 1030 nm distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) tapered diode laser with nearly diffraction-limited emission is presented. The laser provides an optical output power of 12.7 W with an electro-optical efficiency >40 %. At 10.5 W of optical output power, a central lobe power content of 8.1 W and a nearly diffraction-limited beam propagation ratio of M-2 = 1.1 (1/e(2)) are obtained. The corresponding brightness is 700 MW cm(-2) sr(-1). Compared to previous approaches, intrinsic wavelength stabilization is obtained by a third-order DBR grating manufactured using more reproducible electron-beam lithography. A narrowband emission is measured over the whole power range with a spectral bandwidth of about 17 pm at 12.5 W. Based on the measured electro-optical, spectral and spatial properties, the laser is suitable for applications requiring narrowband, high-power emission with high spatial quality.