Patent ID: 7035304

Claim:
An optical disk recording and reproducing apparatus comprising a semiconductor laser device, the semiconductor laser device comprising in sequence on a GaAs substrate: a first cladding layer having a first conduction type; a quantum well active layer; a second cladding layer having a second conduction type; and a ridge stripe-shaped third cladding layer having a same conduction type as the second cladding layer, as well as a current blocking layer having a first conduction type located on both sides of the third cladding layer, the quantum well active layer being structured from III–V group compound semiconductor containing at least P as V group element, the first cladding layer, the second cladding layer, the third cladding layer, and the current blocking layer being structured from III–V group compound semiconductor containing only As as V group element, and wherein a hollow portion is provided inside the current blocking layer in the vicinity of and approximately parallel to the ridge stripe-shaped third cladding layer.