We present thermoreflectance measurements upon a 980 nm wavelength laser di
ode. Using the energy conservation law, we are able to determine the temper
ature increase near the active region due to surface absorption. In this pa
per, we have studied the influence of this surface source contribution for
three different configurations of the input current: below the threshold cu
rrent I-Th for a moderate current above I-Th and finally for a current far
above I-Th. We can analyse from these reliability issues for the diode in t
erms of catastrophic optical facet damage (COFD). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.