With the aim of realizing high power laser diodes on GaAs with narrow far fields and an emission wavelength above 1100 nm, we have studied the growth and strain behavior of pseudomorphic InxGa1-xAs (x > 0.3) multi quantum wells grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The effect of different numbers of quantum wells, barrier thickness, strain compensation and growth rate on defect formation has been studied. Laser diodes with very small far field angles and different numbers of quantum wells were processed into broad area devices (100-200 mu m x 1-4 mm). Such devices show thermally limited output CW powers up to 20 W and no noticeable degradation over more than 10.000 h at 5 W. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.