Degradation effects in pulsed AlGaAs large optical cavity (LOC) structure laser diodes

High power pulsed laser diodes are of interest due to their potential use in medicine and peculiar applications. This paper presents failure analysis for catastrophic damage in GaAs/AlGaAs LOC pulsed laser devices. There is presented failure decrease of optical power as 1 g (P/P0) equals f(t) where P0 is initial power, P actual power, t-operating time. The damaged devices were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy and there was performed a electron dispersion spectroscopy analysis. These experiments advanced the idea of dividing catastrophic degradation in three types, respectively: 1-catastrophic optical mirror damage, 2-catastrophic damage due to major mechanic defects, 3-catastrophic damage due to metal migration (e.g. Au). There was established an experimental criterion to characterize catastrophic damage.