Gain and reflectance measurements of a 1050nm VECSEL chip

Optically pumped vertical external cavity surface emitting lasers (VECSEL) have a wide range of applications due to a combination of output power, high efficiency, excellent beam quality and abroad spectral range. Furthermore the visible spectrum is accessible with intra cavity frequency-doubling. As frequency-doubling requires precise spectral stabilization a detailed knowledge of the spectral gain curve of the VECSEL chip is essential. The exact value of gain depends on the resonant periodic gain (RPG) structure, Bragg mirror reflectance, pump power and wavelength.