High-power near-diffraction-limited tapered amplifiers at 1064 nm for optical intersatellite communications

Tapered power laser amplifiers have a wide range of applications such as in free space communication. In an optical intersatellite communication system based on the coherent transmission scheme, a narrow linewidth 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser in combination with a phase modulator acts as the coherent optical source. A tapered power InGaAs-AlGaAs MQW laser amplifier chip for the wavelength of 1064 nm was developed to boost the optical output power to the watt level. We show the amplifier device fabrication and characterisation and the first steps to space qualification.