9.1-W High-Efficient Continuous-Wave End-Pumped Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Semiconductor Laser

We report the first demonstration of an end-pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser (VECSEL) with more than 9.1-W continuous-wave output power at a wavelength of 1079 nm. In order to enable the VECSEL to operate in an end-pumping scheme, a liquid capillary bonding method is used to bond the VECSEL chip to the surface of an optically transparent heat spreader. Moreover, a modified distributed Bragg reflector is applied to the VECSEL chip structure to maximize the pump efficiency. These will result in an end-pumped VECSEL that is characterized by high output power with good beam quality without additional antireflection coatings of the samples. In combination with an end-pumped scheme and desirable output beam, the end-pumped VECSEL will prove useful in a variety of applications requiring compact module and efficient source with high output power.