Surface-emitting laser diode beam characterization (Abstract Only)

We have conducted thorough analysis of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diode which produces TEM01* (donut) and higher-order modes. Our analysis includes the following quantities as a function of drive current: optical power, spectral content, relative intensity noise (RIN) up to 100 MHz, and beam characterization parameters. While this VCSEL produces higher-order modes which are not affected by optical feedback, its optical power (0.05 mW for TEM01*), long term stability, and sensitivity to collimating lens position make it a doubtful candidate for use in a beam characterization round robin. Also, we hope to present recently acquired data from the diode-pumped tunable transverse mode laser developed in Berlin and tested at NIST.