High power external-cavity surface-emitting laser with front and end pump

High power optically pumped vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers with front and end pump are reported. The gain chip consists of 15 repeats of In_0.26GaAs/GaAsP_0.02 multiple quantum wells and 30 pairs of Al_0.2GaAs/Al_0.98GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors. The maximum output power of 3 W, optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 22.4%, and slope efficiency of 29.8% are obtained with 5-℃ heatsink temperature under the front pump, while the maximum output power of 1.1 W, optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 23.2%, and slope efficiency of 30.8% are reached with 5-℃ heatsink temperature under the end pump. Influences of thermal effects on the output power of the laser with front and end pump are discussed.