ZNSE FOR MIRROR PASSIVATION OF HIGH-POWER GAAS BASED LASERS

The authors report a method for passivating vacuum cleaved facets of h igh power GaAs based lasers using a thin fam of ZnSe formed by molecul ar beam deposition for preventing facet degradation, and thus for impr oving their long term stability and reliability at high power operatio n. ZnSe has a large bandgap of 2.7eV and a lattice constant close to t hat of GaAs with a lattice mismatch of only 0.23%. ZnSe evaporates con gruently at a comparatively low temperature of similar to 750 degrees C from an effusion cell, and deposits as stoichiometric ZnSe film. The authors have used the technique for 980nm InGaAs/lnGaP/GaAs lasers.