Transient temperature behavior of GaAlAs/GaAs high-power laser arrays on different heat sinks

Diode laser parameters such as emission wavelength, threshold current and optical output power, sensitively depend on the junction temperature of the laser diode. The temperature in the active layer results from the loss processes inside the laser structure as well as from the thermal characteristics of the semiconductor material and the heat sink configuration. In this paper, we present numerical model calculations employing a two dimensional finite element method in order to study the transient temperature behavior of high power laser arrays in a time range between 10 ns and cw-operation. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of different heat sinks on the thermal performance of whole device. Numerical and experimental results are compared.