Analysis of facet degradation of high power 830 nm laser diodes

Catastrophic optical damage (COD) and other facet-related degradation of high power 830 nm laser diodes was analyzed. Correlation between COD output power limit and the COD depth into the laser and its application to separate facet-related degradation from bulk degradation is described. The role of coating defects and contamination in the package environment as analyzed by SEM/EDS, Auger etc., is described. The diodes described here are GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well gain guided lasers.