The device performance improvement of ridge waveguide (RWG) laser diodes (LDs), operating at a wavelength (lambda) of similar to 960 nm, with a metal-dielectric high-reflection (HR) mirror consisting of Au/Ti-SiO2 layers on the back facet was demonstrated. To determine the optimum thickness of each layer, optical reflection calculations were performed using a rigorous coupled-wave analysis method, which leads to the resultant Au (80 nm)/Ti (5 nm)-SiO2 (164 nm) layers. The layers exhibited a broad high reflection band of >91% over a wavelength range of 920-1000 nm, indicating the reflectivity of similar to 91.2% at lambda similar to 960 nm. For 2 mm-cavity RWG LDs with the Au/Ti-SiO2 HR mirror, an enhanced maximum output power (P-max) of 499.3 mW at an injection current of 3000 mA and a decreased threshold current (Ith) of 516 mA (i.e., P-max = 259.4 mW and Ith = 650 mA for the uncoated LDs) were obtained, showing an increased slope efficiency percentage of 82%. The external differential quantum efficiency was also increased from similar to 17.1 to similar to 31.1%. Also, the full widths at half maximum values of beam divergences of the device were 38 degrees (vertical direction) and 4 degrees (horizontal direction). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.