Narrow versus broad asymmetric waveguides for single-mode high-power laser diodes

We investigate numerically the effect of the optical confinement layer thickness on the far field properties (far field shape and input efficiency) and confinement factor of an asymmetric-waveguide high power laser diode. A strong correlation is found between the confinement and input efficiency. It is shown that the far field properties of lasers with narrow asymmetric structures tend to be superior to those of broad waveguide ones with a similar confinement factor.