Thermal Regime of High-power Laser Diodes

We discuss the design and application perspectives of different crystal, ceramic and composite-type submounts with thermo-compensating properties as well as submounts from materials with high thermal conductivity for overcoming thermal problem in high-power laser diodes (LD) and improving thermal management of other high-power optoelectronic and electronic semiconductor devices. Thermal fields in high-power laser diodes were calculated in 3 D thermal model at CW operation for some heatsink designs taking into account the experimental dependence of laser total efficiency against pumping current in order to extend the range of reliable operation up to thermal loads 20-30 W and corresponding output optical power up to 15-20 W for 100 μm stripe laser diodes.