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High-power 650-nm-band AlGaInP visible laser diodes having stable fundamental-transverse-mode at high temperatures were produced using electron cyclotron resonance reactive ion beam etching (ECR-RIBE). Epilayers were etched using a Cl2/N2mixture gas, resulting in very smooth surfaces and symmetric laser mesas. Lasers that are 700-µm-long and 6%/80% coated were fabricated. The typical threshold current of these devices was as low as 46 mA at room temperature, and a stable fundamental-mode operation over 30 mW is obtained up to 70°C. The lasers operated for over 1000 h at 60°C under an output power of 25 mW, and their degradation rate was as low as lasers fabricated by the ordinary wet etching process.

650 nm-band self-pulsing lasers which exhibit an extremely low laser beam profile aspect ratio (2.6) and a small astigmatism (2 µm) were successfully demonstrated by optimizing the design of the layer structure. Low-noise self-pulsing lasers have been developed as a light source for optical disc systems. In the case of mounting the lasers on optical systems, a low aspect ratio and a small astigmatism are required in order to realize high optical coupling efficiency and good optical focusing characteristics. In this paper, we report a reduction of the aspect ratio while maintaining a small astigmatism in self-pulsing AlGaInP lasers with a saturable absorbing (SA) layer by optimizing the optical confinement and compressive strain in the SA layer. Simultaneously, a very low intensity noise characteristic up to 50° C was confirmed by stable self-sustained pulsation characteristics.

A novel structure of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) was proposed and demonstrated. Using a common-anode configuration, lower mesa height and lower electrical resistance were realized. The threshold current was 6 mA for a 10-µm-diameter device under room-temperature pulsed operation. The lasing wavelength was 939 nm. This configuration is suitable for large-scale integration. We also propose an optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) with the common-anode configuration, which consists of a VCSEL and a heterostructure phototransistor (HPT) for optical parallel processing.