A reflective surface is disclosed in conjunction with a semiconductor laser to shape a laser beam and modify a direction of the laser beam. The reflective surface may be formed on a structure disposed adjacent to a laser structure to allow high coupling of laser light to, for example, a silicon photonics chip or an optical fiber.

Disclosed is a semiconductor optical emitter having an optical mode and a gain section, the emitter comprising a low loss waveguide structure made of two alternating layers of semiconductor materials A and B, having refractive indexes of Na and Nb, respectively, with an effective index N.sub.o of the optical mode in the low loss waveguide between Na and Nb, wherein No is within a 5% error margin of identical to a refractive index of the gain section and wherein the gain section is butt-jointed with the low loss waveguide, and wherein the size and shape of the optical mode(s) in the low loss waveguide and gain section are within a 10% error margin of equal. Desirably, at least one of the semiconductor materials A and B has a sufficiently large band gap that the passive waveguide structure blocks current under a voltage bias of 15 V.

A semiconductor laser includes: a multi-quantum well layer in a mesa structure; a buried layer comprising a semi-insulating semiconductor, the buried layer being in contact with each of both sides of the mesa structure; a first cladding layer with a first conductivity type, the first cladding layer having a lower refractive index than the multi-quantum well layer; a high refractive index layer configured to not absorb light oscillating in the multi-quantum well layer, the high refractive index layer having a higher refractive index than the first cladding layer; a diffraction grating layer at least partially constituting a diffraction grating capable of diffracting the light oscillating in the multi-quantum well layer, the diffraction grating layer not contacting the high refractive index layer; a substrate with the first conductivity type; and a second cladding layer with a second conductivity type above the multi-quantum well layer.