High-power 980-nm ridge waveguide laser diodes including an asymmetrically expanded optical field normal to the active layer

We propose a new ridge waveguide laser diode (LD) which supports an asymmetrically expanded optical field normal to the active layer in order to increase the maximum kink-free output power and reduce the aspect ratio of output beams. The dependence of maximum kink-free output power on facet reflectivity was analyzed from the viewpoint of the total optical power in the cavity. It was clarified that the maximum kink-free output power is influenced by the facet reflectivity which affects the refractive index changes of the ridge region via the total optical power in the cavity. More than 600 mW of maximum kink-free output power and an aspect ratio of less than 2.5 were achieved in experiments with 980-nm ridge waveguide LDs by means of this proposed new structure.