Reliability of single-mode and multi-mode high-power semiconductor lasers at eye-safe wavelengths

High power semiconductor lasers with wavelengths in the eye-safer region have application to a variety of defense, medical and industrial applications. We report on the reliability of high power multimode and single mode InGaAsP/InP diode lasers with wavelengths in the range 1320 to 1550 nm in a variety of configurations, including single-chip, conduction-cooled arrays, arrays incorporating internal diffraction gratings, master-oscillator power amplifiers, and fiber-coupled modules of the above. In all cases we show very low rates of degradation in optical power and the absence of sudden failure from catastrophic optical damage or from laser-package interactions.