Broad area semiconductor lasers withimproved near and far fields usingenhanced current spreading

Improved near and far field distributions in broad area semiconductor lasers are demonstrated using a novel technique for smoothing the tranvserse current injection profile by introducing a thick (10 µm) p-GaAs layer to increase carrier diffusion. This results in narrower and more symmetrical far fields compared to standard broad area lasers, especially when operating at high output powers.