High-power nearly diffraction-limited AlGaAs-InGaAs semiconductor slab-coupled optical waveguide laser

Beam-quality measurements on the output of a 915-nm AlGaAs-InGaAs-GaAs slab-coupled optical waveguide laser (SCOWL) are reported. This device had a nearly circular mode (3.8 (mu)m by 3.4 (mu)m 1/e/sup 2/ widths in the near-field) and was capable of a single-ended continuous-wave output power of greater than 1 W. Measurements of M/sup 2/ indicate that the SCOWL output beam is nearly diffraction-limited in both directions with M/sub x//sup 2/ ~ M/sub y//sup 2/ ~ 1.1 over the entire range of output powers measured.