True near-field optical characters of a GaAlAs semiconductor laser diode

Abstract

In this research we have taken advantage of near-field scanning optical microscopy, a recently developed technique, to test the optical nature of GaAlAs semiconductor laser diodes working at 780 nm. With this method, both the images of the topographic and the near-field intensity of the laser diodes can be simultaneously obtained. With the obtained results, we can analyze the variety of the geometric structure, the local near-field optical intensity, the propagating modes, and the near-field mode-field diameter at different working states of the laser diodes. Hereby, we can find the factors that affected the radiation cavity of the laser diode and explore its alive state. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)01112-0].