(1. Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science,Shaanxi University of Science and Technology,Xi’an 710021,China) (2. Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology,Taiyuan 030024,China)
High-power semiconductor lasers are indispensably fundamental and essential components in the fields of equipment for modern laser processing, laser remanufacturing, laser medical treatment, laser displaying and national defense. They have extensive applications in industrial and defense fields. In order to increase the output power of semiconductor lasers, it is necessary to determine the impact factors of output power. Then, the output power improvement might be achieved through optimizing materials, structure and preparation process of semiconductor laser. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the impact factors on output power of semiconductor lasers. In this paper, the limitations for output power improving of GaAs-based high-power semiconductor lasers were reviewed. The research progress on catastrophic optical damage, carrier leakage, two-photon absorption and longitudinal spatial hole burning of GaAs-based high-power semiconductor lasers was summarized. It might accelerate the output power increasement, structural design optimization, materials quality improvement, and epitaxy technology promotion of semiconductor lasers.