Low spatial coherence electrically pumped semiconductor laser for speckle-free full-field imaging.

ABSTRACT: The spatial coherence of laser sources has limited their application to parallel imaging and projection due to coherent artifacts, such as speckle. In contrast, traditional incoherent light sources, such as thermal sources or light emitting diodes (LEDs), provide relatively low power per independent spatial mode. Here, we present a chip-scale, electrically pumped semiconductor laser based on a novel design, demonstrating high power per mode with much lower spatial coherence than conventional laser sources. The laser resonator was fabricated with a chaotic, D-shaped cavity optimized to achieve highly multimode lasing. Lasing occurs simultaneously and independently in ∼1,000 modes, and hence the total emission exhibits very low spatial coherence. Speckle-free full-field imaging is demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Redding B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4321308 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature