The authors have obtained, from 20 mu m aperture 0.98 mu m wavelength
three-core ARROW-type InGaAs/InGaAsP/InGaP diode lasers, a diffraction
-limited beam pattern up to 0.55W peak-pulsed power with 78% of the li
ght in the central lobe; and near diffraction-limited-beam operation t
o 0.7W. Interelement optical absorption loss is found to be important
for improved beam quality at high drive levels, in good agreement with
theory.