Theoretical analysis of broad-area semiconductor lasers with laterally shifted modal reflectors

Broad-area (BA) semiconductor lasers enable the achieving of high output power. However, the beam quality is low because of the vast number of lateral modes supported by the wide structure. A solution to this problem can be to produce BA lasers with modal reflectors. In this paper a theoretical analysis of the near-threshold behavior of such lasers is provided. The emphasis is put on the geometrical precision of producing of the inhomogeneous mirror. Consequences of asymmetry, with regard to the low-ohmic contact center, and localization of the reflecting part of the mirror on laser operation is discussed.