Improved catastrophic optical mirror damage levelinInGaAs/AlGaAs laser diodes

9.2 W continuous wave (CW) optical power at a heatsink temperature 10°C and 12.2 W in a regime with stabilised temperature of the laser chip is demonstrated from a 100 µm aperture InGaAs/AlGaAs (λ = 1.03 µm) laser diode with 0.4 µm wide GaAs waveguide. Thus, record-high optical power densities of 30 MW/cm2 and 40 MW/cm2 correspondingly are achieved at the front facet without catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD).