High-power 2.5-W cw AlGaAs/GaAs laser diodes

2.5-W cw laser diodes with a 100-μm wide strip contact emitting at a wavelength of 850 nm are manufactured and studied. The laser heterostructure with a heavily-doped P emitter was prepared by the metal-organic chemical-vapour deposition (MOCVD) technique in the AlGaAs/GaAs system. For a cavity of length 800 μm, the external differential quantum efficiency was 84% (1.2 W A^-1), and the characteristic threshold current temperature was 230 K. The predicted service life of the laser is more than 5 × 10³ h.