Optical properties of tapered laser cavities

The properties of a tapered semiconductor laser cavity utilised for the generation of a high power, good quality optical beam are investigated. In particular the influence of the straight section width and length as well as the angle and length of the tapered section on the overall performance of the cavity are studied. In order to solve the wave equation, the wide angle beam propagation method has been applied. The computer memory requirements are relaxed by the use of higher order finite difference schemes.