Gain-chips are critical components for building tunable diode lasers and highly stable external cavity diode lasers. Unlike standard laser diode chips, gain-chips feature deep anti-reflective (AR) coatings on one or both facets, significantly increasing the self-lasing threshold or preventing it. Common external cavity diode laser configurations include Littrow and Littman/Metcalf cavities, where diffraction gratings are used to diffract light of the desired wavelength back along the incident path, with wavelength tuning achieved by rotating the grating. An intracavity lens often collimates the expanded beam onto the grating, and the zero-order beam serves as the laser output.

Recommended Operating Point

Expected Tunability Parameters @ CW, recommended operating point, external cavity in Littman configuration with 200% feedback

Absoulute Maximum Ratings

Typical Performance Without External Cavity @ CW, 25°C heatsink temperature

L-I-V curve

ASE spectrum

Typical Performance Without External Cavity @ CW, 25°C heatsink temperature, Littman configuration with 20% feedback, Thorlabs GR-25-1208 grating

Output power @ 850 nm

Optical spectrum @ 150mA (res. 0.025 nm)