BEAM QUALITY OF HIGH-POWER BROAD-AREA VISIBLE DIODE-LASERS

We characterize the beam quality of visible-wavelength GRIN-SCH-SQW la sers in terms of geometry and driving current. A second-moment-based, free beam measurement of M2 yields values ranging from near unity on t he plane parallel to the junction, to near 10 in the perpendicular pla ne. The M2 values exhibit a dependence on the shape of the L-I charact eristic. Higher-order moments are used to quantitatively describe the changes in beam shape as a function of current, and a correlation betw een the kurtosis and M2 is observed.