Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  High power semiconductor lasers provide the optical energy for the majority of high performance laser systems, and are the most efficient technology for converting electrical energy into useful light. Solid-state and fiber laser systems that make use of such semiconductor lasers as pumps sources are progressing in leaps and bounds. Meanwhile, the stand-alone performance of the semiconductor laser sources has reached a high level, and in recent years they are increasingly being considered for direct use in material processing applications. For future systems, further improved semiconductor lasers are needed, with higher brightness and higher power conversion efficiencies being especially important. In some cases, emission within a narrow spectral band is also required. In addition, several methods of beam combining show great promise, potentially enabling increases in brightness of many orders of magnitude. In this talk I will summarize the state-of-the-art in high-power semiconductor lasers worldwide. MIT Lincoln Laboratory has made several breakthroughs in high power semiconductor lasers that I will discuss in greater detail.

Biography:  Gary M. Smith is a member of Technical Staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Since joining MIT-LL in 2004 he has been developing photonic semiconductor devices, initially focusing on Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode arrays, but more recently on high-power semiconductor lasers and beam combining. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. His thesis work was performed on the design and fabrication of DFB and DBR stabilized semiconductor lasers. After graduation in 1995, he worked at Advanced Technology Materials, Inc. on photonic devices in wide-bandgap semiconductors. In 1999 he moved to Corning Lasertron to work on high-power 980 nm semiconductor lasers. During his tenure at Lasertron he led the new product introduction of 250 and 500 mW fiber-grating-stabilized pump lasers. Dr. Smith has served on the Semiconductor Laser subcommittee of the IEEE Photonics Conference (previously called LEOS Annual Meeting) from 2006 to 2011, chairing the committee from 2008 to 2011. In 2012 he co-chaired an IEEE Photonics Society Summer Topical meeting on High-Power Semiconductor Lasers.