High optical strength GaAs-based laser structures

•Extremely high facet output powers are tolerated in both cw (> 3W) and pulsed current injection conditions.•High emission-facet critical temperatures (> 180°C) are reached, higher than previously published values (120–160°).•Pulsed current experiments show internal degradation but no facet damage in the 0.15 to 10 μs pulsewidth range.

The optical-strength properties of 3S PHOTONICS GaAs-based semiconductor laser structures are presented. After some general considerations about this robustness issue, typical of high-power diode lasers, the performances in both CW and pulsed current injection of our best vertical structures are presented and it is shown that our current generation of 980 nm laser diodes can withstand very high facet temperatures (180–200 °C) in stable CW operation. Thus, we demonstrate a large margin between the facet temperature in operation conditions and the observed maximum critical value. Maximum CW saturation powers exceeding 3 W from a single-lateral mode device have been obtained with the longest laser cavities (7.5 mm) at around 5 A. Also, very high peak powers are demonstrated in pulsed current experiments opening the way to new specific applications, using available production devices. Specific degradation patterns after high peak current single-pulse induced damage have been observed by cathodo-luminescence imaging and are also discussed. Finally, comparisons between devices emitting at 980 nm and 1060 nm are considered.