Research on Failure Mechanism of 976nm Tapered Laser

The tapered laser consists of tapered area and ridge area, which has a lower photon density because it has a wider cavity surface. Therefore, the structure is easier to achieve highpower, high-beam quality laser output than traditional lasers. More reliability issues will occur in the device with increasing power. In this paper, the tapered laser is analyzed by simulation software, the distribution of carriers and light field is obtained, and the failure analysis of tapered laser is performed by experiment. Combined simulation and experiment, the main reasons for the failure include spatial hole burning effect, cavity surface optical catastrophe, cavity surface contamination, cavity damage and poor welding. The failure mechanism of tapered lasers is determined, which provides useful help for advancing the application of tapered lasers.