A departure from the straight line of output power against drive current above threshold, caused by a change in lateral mode, filamentation or beam steering inside the chip. A kink often comes with a jump in beam pointing or far-field shape, which hurts fiber coupling. Single-mode diodes are specified as kink-free up to a stated power, and the drive current is kept below that point.
There's a kink at 380 milliamps on the LI curve, so derate that diode to 350 or the coupled power will jump around.
Also heard as
- LI kink
Related terms
Laser diode
A semiconductor laser driven by electric current, used as a light source in its own right and to pump other lasers.
Slope efficiency
The rate at which laser output power rises per unit of extra pump power above threshold.
Lasing threshold
The pump level at which gain exactly balances resonator losses and laser output begins.
Mode hop
A sudden jump of a laser's output frequency from one cavity mode to a neighboring one.