| A poorly designed drive circuit leads at best to unstable optical output power and/or frequency and at worst to permanent damage to the laser diode. Thermal stress on the laser diode junction and noise from various sources degrade the diode's performance and may result in its damage, and transients may destroy the laser diode outright. This thesis explores all failure mechanisms of a laser diode, and offers solutions to prevent and/or controll them. General drive circuit considerations and requirements of various demanding applications of a CW laser diode are discussed. Finally, a fully functional drive circuit is presented. |
