We describe a class of laser resonator, incorporating a feedback collimator (FBC), that provides feedback that is mode-matched onto a higher-order lateral mode of a slab waveguide laser. In addition, this same resonator, in outcoupling, converts the stabilized higher-order lateral mode into an essentially laterally collimated output beam with a width that exceeds twice the width of the laser-active region. This output beam should have excellent beam quality. Here, we develop the FBC resonator design principles and describe both refractive and reflective versions. Finally, we compare the efficiencies and thresholds of an FBC resonator and an angled-ridge resonator applied to a broad-ridge quantum cascade laser.
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