Grating-coupled surface-emitting laser with a hyperbolic unstable resonator producing a stable focused output beam

A grating-coupled surface-emitting semiconductor laser has been integrated with a focusing diffractive beamforming element. A hyperbolic unstable resonator is used to introduce mode discrimination and suppress filamentation in a broad geometry, resulting in a 200-μm-wide coherent output. The light is focused 500 μm above the laser surface to a spot size of 5×7 μm. A remarkable beam stability is observed with very small spot size variation and beam-steering up to three times the threshold current under continuous operation.