Dynamics of the optical damage of output mirrors of ridge semiconductor lasers based on strained quantum-well heterostructures

An investigation of the dynamics of catastrophic optical damage of a laser diode facet showed that the characteristic energy-evolution time of optical damage was 40 — 80 ns under pulsed operating conditions. When the pulse duration was less than this characteristic time, the damage was governed by the critical energy of a pulse. An estimate of the thickness of an overheated region gave less than 0.6 μm.