Numerical simulation of broad-area high-power semiconductor laser amplifiers

A comprehensive model is presented to study the electrical, thermal, and optical behavior of broad-area traveling-wave InGaAs-AlGaAs semiconductor amplifiers. Finite-element thermal analysis and carrier transport mechanisms are integrated into the beam propagation method to include thermal lensing and optically induced nonlinearities. A self-consistent iteration is developed to simulate the beam filamentation in broad-area semiconductor amplifiers with residual facet reflectivities. The experimentally observed periodic filamentation with intensity minima close to zero is investigated numerically.