Invited Paper: Surface-emitting-diode lasers and laser arrays for displays

High-power red, green, and blue laser light sources made from vertically emitting arrays of intracavity doubled IR lasers is reported. The emitted infrared light from a monolithic array of large-aperture vertical cavity lasers is converted into visible light using a PPLN doubling crystal in an external cavity. A volume Bragg grating provides simultaneous feedback for all emitters in the array and sets the laser wavelength. Increased diffraction losses for higher-order modes result in quasi-Gaussian beams with excellent conversion efficiency. Green 532-nm lasers with more than 5.8-Wvisible power have been demonstrated at a base temperature of 40 degrees C. Blue 465-nm lasers with 4.4-Wpower at 40 degrees C are unmatched in performance and wavelength when compared to competing GaN-based edge emitters. Typical wall-plug efficiencies are higher than 8%. We have measured single-emitter operating lifetimes to be more than 28,000 hours. Red lasers based on highly strained InGaAs achieve record laser powers of 2.0W at 618 nm in the same form factor as the green and blue lasers. Red single-emitter lifetimes of more than 10,000 hours have been attained. The technology described in this paper delivers on a full suite of cost efficient and reliable red, green, and blue lasers that meet the demands of the display markets.