Patent ID: 7139300

Claim:
A diode-laser having a midline longitudinal axis, comprising: a substrate having two facets, the distance between said facets defining the length of the diode laser; a lower cladding region, a lower waveguide region, an active region including a quantum-well layer, an upper waveguide region, and an upper cladding region, formed on said substrate; an elongated electrode electrically coupled to said upper cladding region and located between said facets and defining an elongated pumped section of the diode-laser, said electrode having a length less than the length of the diode-laser thereby leaving at least one unpumped section adjacent said diode-laser at a first end of said electrode, the longitudinal axis of the diode-laser extending through said pumped and unpumped sections of the diode-laser, said quantum-well layer having a higher bandgap in said unpumped section than in said pumped section; and at least one etched area formed in said upper cladding region of said unpumped section of diode-laser, said etched area aligned on the midline longitudinal axis of the diode-laser, defining a diverging lens structure and having a maximum depth less than or equal to the total thickness of said upper cladding region.