Power characteristics and temperature dependence of the angular beam divergence of lasers with a near-surface active region

Results are presented of a study of light–current characteristics and far-field patterns of emission of stripe lasers with coupled planar waveguides. This configuration makes it possible to suppress the generation of excited modes and to have a small (about 0.9 $\mu$m) depth of the active region from the surface of the laser crystal. A high-temperature stability of the angular emission divergence (34.0$^{\circ}$ $\pm$ 1.5$^{\circ}$) in the temperature range 20–80$^{\circ}$C is demonstrated. The largest value of the output power is limited to 12.2 W in the continuous-wave mode by the catastrophic mirror damage.