Abstract—This article is deal with the experimental investigations of the laser diode matrixes (LDM) based on the AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures (lasing wavelength 790-880 nm) to find optimal LDM parameters for active vision systems. In particular, the dependence of LDM radiation pulse power on the pulse duration and LDA active layer heating as well as the LDM radiation divergence are discussed. Keywords—Active vision systems, laser diode matrixes, thermal properties, radiation divergence. I. INTRODUCTION HE active vision systems (AVS) are widely used for visualization of object under bad visibility conditions (night, fog, smoke, snow, dust and so on) [1]-[4]. They are needed for safe operation of automobiles, railways, river transport, aircrafts, as well as for search and rescue operations, providing general security of sites, etc. The AVS operation is based on the following principle: the object being viewed is illuminated by short light pulses of duration substantially shorter than the time it takes light to propagate to the object and back. The receiver usually contains an electro-optical image converter which is opened for a short time in synchrony with the light pulses. When the delay between the opening of the image converter gate and the emission of the illuminating pulse is equal to the time required for the light to propagate to the object and back, the observer sees only the object and the layer of space immediately adjacent to it [3]. The system is mainly composed of high power near infrared pulsed laser transmitter, photoelectric receiving imaging module, range- gated synchronization control module, system control and image processing module [4]. Among the modern requirements to the active vision systems the compactness and low power consumption are the most significant. To satisfy all the requirements the laser diode matrixes (LDM) should be used. The aim of the report is experimental investigations of the LDM based on the AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures with two quantum wells (lasing wavelength 790-880 nm) to find optimal parameters of the laser diode matrixes for the active vision systems. D. M. Kabanau, V. V. Kabanov, Y. V. Lebiadok, D. V. Shabrov, P. V. Shpak are with the B.I. Stepanov Institute of Physics, Minsk, 220072 Belarus (corresponding author to provide phone: 375-17-294-90-10; fax: 375- 17-284-08-79; y.lebiadok@ifanbel.bas-net.by). Gevork T. Mikaelyan and Alexandr P. Bunichev are with the JSC “Inject”, Saratov, 410052 Russian Federation (e-mail: inject@overta.ru). II. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS The lasing wavelength range of 790-880 nm is chosen by the reason of satisfaction of the LDM radiation to the atmosphere transparency [5] and invisibility for human eye conditions. The most preferable lasing wavelength is 870 nm which correspond to the maximal atmosphere transparence in the range of 800-900 nm [5]. The LDM SLM-7-4 was produced by JSC “Inject” (Russia) [6]. Total optical output pulse power of the LDM is in the range of 2-4 kW. The LDM dimensions are 3.5 cm × 3 cm. An example of the lasing spectrum of the laser diode matrix at room temperature is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 The LDM lasing spectrum The laser diode matrixes with the above mentioned parameters are widely used for solid-state laser pumping, e.g. for Nd:YAG lasers [7]. The typical LDM radiation pulse duration is about 250 μs for the solid-state laser pumping purpose. Achievement of AVS’s high efficiency is connected with a high average power of illumination, which along with peak optical power depends on the pulse duration and pulse repetition rate. In turn effective realization of the principle of range gated active night vision supposes usage of short light pulses. As contrasted to the laser pumping, the laser diode matrix radiation pulse duration must be about 10-300 ns for the application in the active vision systems which are used for the distances from 100 m up to 10 km [1]-[4]. Powerful Laser Diode Matrixes for Active Vision Systems Dzmitry M. Kabanau, Vladimir V. Kabanov, Yahor V. Lebiadok, Denis V. Shabrov, Pavel V. Shpak, Gevork T. Mikaelyan, Alexandr P. Bunichev T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial and Mechatronics Engineering Vol:8, No:12, 2014 1991 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(12) 2014 International Science Index Vol:8, No:12, 2014 waset.org/Publication/10000084